Morning Skate: Ducks at Red Wings
Game 2
7:00p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Duck Blogs: Anaheim Calling & Battle of California
Screw the Ducks.
The Red Wings may have moved East, but my hate for Anaheim still exists and it should for you too. Sadly, tonight we won't get to watch Teemu Selanne crying to the refs all night long. However, we will get the great pleasure of watching Anaheim's two best players, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, take the ice with grace and lead by example for their young players.
Hatred aside, the Ducks are a good team… at least they were last season. They lost to the Penguins 6-4 on Thursday night. It was a fast paced, up-and-down game. They have some speed. They can score. They've got pretty good depth. The addition of Ryan Kesler as their 2nd line center gives them a solid 1-2 punch down the middle of skill and douchiness. Regardless of rosters or talent though, it's still the Wings and the Ducks. It's going to be a close, chippy game and it's going to be fun to watch.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Johan Franzen |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Jurco |
| Gustav Nyquist | Darren Helm | Andrej Nestrasil |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Brendan Smith | Danny DeKeyser |
| Kyle Quincey | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Jonas Gustavsson |
Scratches: Daniel Cleary, Stephen Weiss & Brian Lashoff
Injuries: Pavel Datsyuk (shoulder)
Forwards
| Patrick Maroon | Ryan Getzlaf | Corey Perry |
| Matt Beleskey | Ryan Kesler | Devante Smith-Pelly |
| Andrew Cogliano | William Karlsson | Jakob Silfverberg |
| Emerson Etem | Nate Thompson | Tim Jackman |
Defensemen
| Cam Fowler | Ben Lovejoy |
| Hampus Lindholm | Francois Beauchemin |
| Clayton Stoner | Sami Vatanen |
Goaltenders
| John Gibson (starting) |
| Frederick Andersen |
Bullets of Knowledge
- The Red Wings are 48-20-7-2 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Ducks.
- One former Duck on the Red Wings roster. Drew Miller won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2007.
- Datsyuk is not playing tonight, but back in the day Pav register the only Gordie Howe hat trick of his career against the Ducks. He beat the crap out of Perry.
- Howard is 9-3-1 with a 2.00 GAA, .933 SV% and 3 shutouts in 13 career regular season starts against Anaheim./