Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Penguins
8:00p ET, Consol Energy Center
Pittsburgh, PA
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
We're piping hot, gang. 9-1-0 over the last 10, yeah some weren't the prettiest way to win, but winning is good because more points more fun.
We got a familiar foe on the cards tonight, Detroit waltzes into Pennsylvania to face Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. We know the story here, we know the history. We'll hear about it probably 600 times tonight from NBC, blah blah blah. Fact of the matter is, Detroit is running hot, and Pittsburgh is running cold. You never write off a team like them, they have two of the best centers in the world. I'm really hoping to see Pavel vs Geno tonight, because it's always an entertaining skirmish to see Pav matchup against fellow countrymen. However, there's a good chance Mike Babcock loses his mind and matches 3rd or 4th line against Pittsburgh's top squads. We'll see.
My most favorite thing about the Penguins? It seems like their media and fans can't stand the team at times. It's entertaining to watch, given that they are a top-performing team, year-in and year-out.
Given the Wings' hotness lately, there's a looming feeling that they might come out and play on their heels tonight, but I'm going to stay optimistic and believe that they're going to kick tires and light fires right out of the gate. Let's win. Winning is good. I like doing the win thing.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Gustav Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Tomas Tatar |
| Stephen Weiss | Riley Sheahan | Luke Glendening |
| Drew Miller | Joakim Andersson | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Alexey Marchenko | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Daniel Cleary, Jakub Kindl, Xavier Ouellet, Jonas Gustavsson
Injuries: Johan Franzen (headaches)
Forwards
| Chris Kunitz | Sidney Crosby | David Perron |
| Blake Comeau | Evgeni Malkin | Patric Hornqvist |
| Nick Spaling | Brandon Sutter | Steve Downie |
| Zach Sill | Maxim Lapierre | Craig Adams |
Defensemen
| Paul Martin | Kris Letang |
| Rob Scuderi | Simon Despres |
| Robert Bortuzzo | Derrick Pouliot |
Goaltenders
| Marc-Andre Fleury (starting) |
| Thomas Greiss |
| PENGUINS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 30-15-8 (68 pts; 2nd in Metropolitan) | Record | 31-12-9 (71 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.81 (12th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.94 (6th in NHL) |
| 2.45 (8th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.36 (5th) |
| 21.3% (7th) | Power Play % | 25.5% (1st) |
| 86.3% (3rd) | Penalty Kill % | 83.4% (7th) |
| Evgeni Malkin (20 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (23 goals) |
| Sidney Crosby (56 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (47 points) |
- The Red Wings are 71-69-16 (W-L-OT) all-time in the regular season against the Penguins
- Last 10 Games: Pittsburgh 4-4-2, Detroit 9-1-0/
- Henrik Zetterberg has 8 goals, and 7 assists in 12 career regular season games against Pittsburgh/