3:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: NBC
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket/1270 AM
B’s Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Ah yes… the Boston Bruins come to town today. Last time these two teams met was at the Joe back late November. It was a game the Red Wings dominated… yet blew a late lead and lost in overtime. The Wings are currently 0-1-1 against Boston.
Yesterday, the Red Wings called up Xavier Ouellet from Grand Rapids. Apparently, Jonathan Ericsson is questionable. The ideal scenario is Ericsson sits, Jakub Kindl is scratched and Ouellet slides in next to Alexey Marchenko on the 3rd pair. That actually might be the best defense the Wings ice all season. Forward lines should remain status quo.
Across the sheet, the Bruins are coming off a 4-2 win yesterday in Minnesota. They did it without their best player, Patrice Bergeron. The former Selke winner was out with an undisclosed injury. He’s day-to-day. No word yet if he’ll suit up this afternoon. It wouldn’t shock me if he did. With back-to-back games this weekend, it would make sense to hold him out of the game against the Western Conference team and have him play against the division foe fighting with you for playoff position.
Jonas Gustavsson got the start yesterday, so we’ll surely see Tuukka Rask between the pipes this afternoon. Brad Marchand has 12 goals in his last 12 games. He’s on fire. Meanwhile, don’t sleep on Ryan Spooner, who is having himself a solid season. He’ll slide into the top center spot if Bergeron can’t go. Joonas Kemppainen likely sits out if Bergeron plays. Also, just my speculation here… don’t be surprised if Zac Rinaldo is scratched today. He’s useless against the Wings (and in general). Landon Ferraro would probably find his way into the lineup (and probably score too). On defense, Kevan Miller is bad. Take advantage whenever he’s on the ice.
Detroit Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Dylan Larkin | Brad Richards |
| Gus Nyquist | Andreas Athanasiou | Tomas Jurco |
| Darren Helm | Riley Sheahan | Luke Glendening |
Defensemen
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brendan Smith | Mike Green |
| Xavier Ouellet | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Teemu Pulkkinen, Jakub Kindl
Injuries: Drew Miller, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson
Boston Expected Lineup
Forwards
| Brad Marchand | Ryan Spooner | Brett Connolly |
| Matt Beleskey | David Krejci | David Pastrnak |
| Loui Eriksson | Joonas Kemppainen | Jimmy Hayes |
| Zac Rinaldo | Max Talbot | Tyler Randell |
Defensemen
| Zdeno Chara | Zach Trotman |
| Joe Morrow | Dennis Seidenberg |
| Torey Krug | Kevan Miller |
Goaltenders
| Tuukka Rask |
| Jonas Gustavsson |
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you’re in luck, because here’s your opportunity. Here’s how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated in the questions. If you don’t use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. All other submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct you’ll receive 15 points.
