7:00p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: FSD
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Bruins Blog: Stanley Cup of Chowder
Is it just me, or is it getting pretty spooky in here?
The Red Wings return to the Mitten after a quick haunt in St. Boo-is, where they picked up another two ghoulish points and probably smashed pumpkins at all the Blues’ houses. They managed to extend their win streak to six games after prevailing in what we all thought was a cursed shootout. Seriously, it felt like it was never going to end! And it was good ol’ Hank Zetterberg that got the winning goal? He’s clearly been put under a spell that makes him remember how to score in the skills competition.
Alright, enough with the Halloween puns. Maybe.
The Bruins have rolled into town with a month-long pass on the Struggle Bus that came with a free voucher for being last in the Atlantic. Buffalo is even worse than Boston, though, so they can’t even redeem that coupon yet. Too bad.
Here’s what should give Wings fans a good fright heading into tonight’s matchup: Boston coming off a bad loss to the Rangers and is rotating between their third and fourth string goalies, David Backes is injured and not even traveling with the team, and the Department of Player Safety is making David Pastrnak wear a dunce cap for the next two games for a dumb hit. Detroit, on the other hand, is getting to the point of a winning streak where a loss is looming on the horizon. To quote their captain, they’re “overconfident, turning pucks over too much,” and getting their bacon saved by their goalies. It’s a trap game waiting to happen.
Fortunately, the bearded Swedish wonder is all too aware that defeat is knocking on the Detroit’s door. Here’s to hoping he and the Red Wings pull a trick and tell that loss to scram.
As far as we know, the Wings didn’t practice yesterday, so right now we’re going to assume there’s no lineup changes.
Red Wings Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Dylan Larkin | Frans Nielsen | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Tatar | Henrik Zetterberg | Riley Sheahan |
| Andreas Athanasiou | Darren Helm | Justin Abdelkader |
| Steve Ott | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Brendan Smith | Ryan Sproul |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Thomas Vanek (mid-lower body injury, day-to-day), Tomas Jurco (back), Niklas Kronwall (knee), Johan Franzen (Instagram shenanigans), Joe Vitale (remember we traded for him?)
Bruins Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Brad Marchand | Patrice Bergeron | Austin Czarnik |
| Ryan Spooner | David Krejci | Jimmy Hayes |
| Matt Beleskey | Riley Nash | Noel Acciari |
| Tim Schaller | Dominic Moore | Danton Heinen |
Defensemen
| Zdeno Chara | Brandon Carlo |
| Torey Krug | Adam McQuaid |
| John-Michael Liles | Colin Miller |
Goaltenders
| Zane McIntyre (starting) |
| Tuukka Rask |
I’m gonna be honest: I have no clue if those Bruins lineups are accurate. The B’s had Pastrnak practicing at first line winger before learning of his suspension, and no one seems to know who’s where with that forced change. Heinen is pegged to draw back in. Rask will be the back-up tonight as he’s recovering from injury, but the starter isn’t known yet either. Coach Claude Julien was mum on it all, so Boston’s morning skate will tell us more.
| BRUINS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 3-4-0 (6 pts; 7th in Atlantic) | Record | 6-2-0 (12 pts; 2nd in Atlantic) |
| 2.43 (23rd in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 3.13 (12th in NHL) |
| 3.29 (23rd) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.25 (6th) |
| 8.3% (30th) | Power Play % | 18.8% (18th) |
| 83.3% (13th) | Penalty Kill % | 80.0% (17th) |
| David Pastrnak (5 goals) | Goals Leader | Darren Helm, Thomas Vanek (4 goals) |
| Brad Marchand (10 points) | Points Leader | Gustav Nyquist, Thomas Vanek (8 points) |
Let’s Go Red Wings!!
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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.
