Morning Skate: Detroit Red Wings vs Anaheim Ducks
7PM EST, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan
TV: FS-D, FS-SD
Radio: 97.1
Ducks' Blog: Anaheim Calling
This season has placed the Red Wings and the Ducks on opposing ends of the spectrum of NHL standings, in comparison to the latter's successes of last season. While the Ducks' have been playing well as of late, winning six of their last ten games, they still languish near the bottom of the western conference.
The Ducks were set to have a chance to improve their place in the standings yesterday as they were scheduled to face off against the Washington Capitals in Washington, D.C. This was, however, until the game was postponed indefinitely as a result of the monstrous blizzard that is sweeping across the east coast.
This means that the Ducks are heading into tonight's game with a fresh pair of legs, in contrast to the Red Wings, which are coming off of a 3-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres last night. The performance was a superb one by the Wings, in particular Dylan Larkin and Luke Glendening, but let us hope that the Wings are not too overconfident as they prepare for tonight's matchup.
Brad Richards will be out tonight as he is attending a funeral, and Jeff Blashill has yet to announce who will start in goal for the Red Wings
As always every point matters, and tonight is no different. The Ducks have landed in Detroit, and the game will be played as scheduled. Let us hope that when they catch their outbound flight they will be as wealthy as they were when they arrived and us two points richer.
Line Combinations (Subject To Change)
Red Wings' Lineup
Forwards
Justin Abdelkader Henrik Zetterberg Dylan Larkin Gustav Nyquist Pavel Datsyuk Darren Helm Tomas Tatar Riley Sheahan Tomas Jurco Joakim Andersson Luke Glendening Teemu Pulkkinen
Defensemen
Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
Brendan Smith | Mike Green |
Jonathan Ericsson | Alexei Marchenko |
Goaltenders
Petr Mrazek (Starting) |
Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Brad Richards
Injuries: Niklas Kronwall, Drew Miller, Johan Franzen
Ducks' Lineup
Forwards
Corey Perry | Ryan Getzlaf | Chris Stewart |
Patrick Maroon | Rickard Rakell | David Perron |
Andrew Cogliano | Ryan Kesler | Jakob Silfverberg |
Shawn Horcoff | Nate Thompson | Mike Santorelli |
Defensemen
Hampus Lindholm | John Manson |
Sami Vatanen | Kevin Bieksa |
Shea Theodore | Korbinian Holzer |
Goaltenders
John Gibson (Starting) |
Frederik Andersen |
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.