Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Penguins

Kyle M

• 2 min read Front Page

12:30p ET, CONSOL Energy Center

Pittsburgh, PA

TV: NBC

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Penguins Blog: Pensburgh

Welcome to NHL Hockey Sunday. It is a very special day, not because we are all reminded of "subtle interference" or how the Red Wings and Penguins met each other in the playoffs in back-to-back years and both won a Cup. No, it is special because I am traveling to Pittsburgh to attend the game with a fellow SB Nationer from Pensburgh.

Detroit is 1-1-0 this season against Pittsburgh. Both teams are sitting in similar spots in their divisions, so I think it's a pretty decent match-up as always. But you know, early-starts aren't really the Red Wings' forte.

The Red Wings played their worst game of the season yesterday. To say it was an embarrassment would be an understatement. They played a chicken-shit hockey game against a bad team. If they come out like that against Pittsburgh, even without Sidney Crosby, it's going to be ugly. That being said, I look forward to this game and I hope that yesterday served as a gigantic wake-up call for the boys.

The Expected Lineups

Forwards

Tomas Tatar Pavel Datsyuk Luke Glendening
Justin Abdelkader Henrik Zetterberg Erik Cole
Teemu Pulkkinen Riley Sheahan
 Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller Joakim Andersson Stephen Weiss

Defensemen

Niklas Kronwall Jonathan Ericsson
Danny DeKeyser
 Kyle Quincey
Brendan Smith Marek Zidlicky

Goaltenders

Petr Mrazek (starting)
Jimmy Howard

Scratches: Daniel Cleary & Jakub Kindl, Tomas Jurco

Injuries: Johan Franzen (concussion), Darren Helm (oblique strain), Alexey Marchenko (oblique strain), Jonas Gustavsson (concussion)

Forwards

David Perron Evgeni Malkin Patric Hornqvist
Chris Kunitz Nick Spaling Blake Comeau
Daniel Winnik Brandon Sutter Beau Bennett
Craig Adams Max Lapierre Steve Downie

Defensemen

Paul Martin Kris Letang
Christian Ehrhoff Ben Lovejoy
Rob Scuderi Ian Cole

Goaltenders

Marc-Andre Fleury (Starting)
Thomas Greiss

PENGUINS THE MATCH-UP RED WINGS
39-19-10 (88 pts; 3rd in Metropolitan) Record 37-19-11 (85 pts; 3rd in Atlantic)
2.87 (9th NHL) Goals Per Game 2.88 (8th in NHL)
2.39 (5th) Goals Against Per Game 2.52 (12th)
20.0% (8th) Power Play % 25.3% (1st)
85.2% (5th) Penalty Kill % 80.7% (21st)
Evgeni Malkin (28 goals) Goal Leader Tomas Tatar (25 goals)
Sidney Crosby (70 points) Points Leader Pavel Datsyuk (57 points)

  • The Red Wings are 71-70-16 (W-L-T/OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Pittsburgh Penguins./

  • Last 10 Games: Detroit 4-5-1, Pittsburgh 7-2-1
    /

  • I am going to be at this game, so if we win, you are welcome. If we lose, I am so sorry./


LGRW