Which Red Wings team is going to show up tonight?
I’d bet a good amount of money it will be a team that gets out played and sucks on the power play. Yeah…I’m negative right now. There isn’t much to be happy about at the moment. Yes, I know there are a ton of injuries and the team is missing some really important players, but it’s still frustrating as hell to watch. It’s frustrating to watch this team lose while all the teams around them continue to win.
Thank goodness Todd Bertuzzi might be back tonight. Is he the difference between winning or losing? Probably not. But the roster on the ice is better with him than without him. If he does play, it better not be at the expense of Gustav Nyquist either. I get the whole pecking order of the Wings roster and how they bring their prospects along slowly, but the roster is depleted right now and Goose brings more to the table right now at this moment than anyone else on the fourth line.
The Ducks were on a crazy run to start 2012 and were making a push for the eight seed. They didn’t sell at the trade deadline in hopes of sneaking in and it doesn’t look they’re going to make it. They’re nine points out of the final playoff spot. A healthy, full powered Wings team would win this game easily. The team on the ice tonight…not so much. The Ducks still have plenty of fire power in Perry, Getzlaf, Selanne and Ryan. They have more offensive fire power in their lineup right now thatn the Wings do. Detroit’s depth doesn’t exist right now so it should be a fairly tight game. Plus, it’s the Ducks. They hate the Wings and the Wings hate them. Always bad blood between these two clube.
Bottom line? The Wings need two points in the worst way. Detroit could still catch the Blues, but right now, it’s more important to hold off the Predators. This is easily the second worst stretch of the season for the Wings and they need to work their asses off and right the ship tonight before the season sinks before our eyes.
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Anaheim Calling is your SBNation Ducks’ blog.
Puck drop is just after 10p ET on Fox Sports Detroit.
The Expected Lineup
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Valtteri Filppula — Henrik Zetterberg — Jiri Hudler
Danny Cleary — Johan Franzen — Gustav Nyquist
Justin Abdelkader — Darren Helm — Drew Miller
Jan Mursak — Cory Emmerton — Tomas Holmstrom
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Jimmy Howard (starting)
Game Time Decision: Todd Bertuzzi (groin)
Injuries: Patrick Eaves (concussion), Pavel Datsyuk (knee), Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle), Jonathan Ericsson (wrist), Jakub Kindl (oblique)
|
RED WINGS |
HOW THEY MATCH UP |
DUCKS |
|
44-23-3 (91 pts; 4th in West) |
Record |
29-30-11 (69 pts; 12th in West) |
|
3.03 (4th in NHL) |
Goals Per Game |
2.43 (24th in NHL) |
|
2.36 (4th) |
Goals Against Per Game |
2.71 (18th) |
|
Crap |
Power Play % |
16.5% (18th) |
|
81.3% (19th) |
Penalty Kill % |
81.7% (17th) |
|
Johan Franzen (26 goals) |
Goal Leader |
Corey Perry (34 goals) |
| Datsyuk/Zetterberg (59 points) |
Points Leader |
Teemu Selanne (59 points) |
- The Red Wings are 46-16-7-2 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time against the Anaheim Ducks franchise.
- Detroit is 3-0-0 against the Ducks this season.
- Corey Perry missed the Ducks game on Monday with a sore shoulder. He is a game time decision tonight.
- The Wings are 1-4-0 in their last five games and a fantastic 16-19-1 on the road this season.
- Jonas Hiller is 2-6-1 against the Wings in his career with a 3.17 GAA and .914 SV%. He will look like Dominik Hasek of the late 90s tonight though as the Wings fire every shot directly into his chest…if they get any shots on net. Meanwhile, Jimmy Howard is 7-2-1 against the Ducks with a 2.30 GAA, .930 SV% and three shutouts. Save us, Jimmy. You’re our only hope.
Prediction: Wings win somehow by a score of 3-1 and Jimmy Howard Henrik Zetterberg is your player of the game.
Let’s Go Red Wings.
