Morning Skate: Detroit Red Wings vs Calgary Flames
7PM EST, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, Michigan
TV: FS-D, Sportsnet
Radio: 97.1
Flames' Blog: Matchstick & Gasoline
The Red Wings have lost four out of their last five games. While three of those losses have been in overtime or a shootout, it is clear that the Wings have entered into a slumber and need to wake up from it. The Flames, on the other hand, have been absolutely dominant since the beginning of December, only losing one game out of eight.
Special teams has been one of Calgary's weaknesses this season, and if the Wings can exploit this, they should have a good chance of winning. But winning will be a little bit more difficult if the Wings end up not having Henrik Zetterberg tonight, who may be out with an injury. If he is not available, Tomas Nosek, who was called up from the Griffins yesterday along with Xavier Ouellet, will most likely play.
After tonight, the Wings have one game left before Christmas. Let's hope that they end their losing skid and bring home two straight wins before the holiday begins.
Line Combinations (Subject To Change)
Red Wings' Lineup
Forwards
| Dylan Larkin | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Brad Richards |
| Gustav Nyquist | RIley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Mike Green |
| Danny DeKeyser | Jakub Kindl |
| Brendan Smith | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (Starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Tomas Nosek, Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Johan Franzen, Drew Miller, Kyle Quincey, Teemu Pulkkinen
Flames' Lineup
Forwards
| Johnny Gaudreau | Sean Monahan | David Jones |
| Sam Bennet | Markus Granlund | Jiri Hudler |
| Mason Raymond | Mikael Backlund | Josh Jooris |
| Michael Ferland | Matt Stajan | Joe Colborne |
Defensemen
| Mark Giordano | T.J. Brodie |
| Kris Russel | Dougie Hamilton |
| Deryk Engelland | Dennis Wideman |
Goaltenders
| Karri Ramo (Starting) |
| Jonas Hiller |
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.