7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: NBCSN, SN
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Maple Leafs Blog: Pension Plan Puppets
Well that was fun! The Wings put together one of their best 60-minute performances in quite some time and for the most part were turned away by one of the best goaltenders in the league. It had a feeling of being one of “those games” where you do everything right and can’t buy a goal, but also that the Wings were going to get rewarded for their play and pull out the win. Obviously we’re all happy the latter happened.
Today is a new day, however, and another Original Six opponent is in town. Mike Babcock’s Leafs now hold the exclusive honor of the worst record in the league and are coming off a shutout loss yesterday to the Senators. Interestingly enough, their power play also ranks dead last at a paltry 15.1%, though I’m sure that has more to do with personnel than systematics.
Jimmy Howard will be in net, but we’re not expecting any lineup changes save for some shuffling on the defensive pairs. Speaking of which, here’s what we know on Kronwall so far:
DET D Niklas Kronwall had an MRI on his knee today, believed its a knee sprain. Hope is he’ll be back before the end of the regular season.
— Damien Cox (@DamoSpin) March 13, 2016
The MRI results are expected this morning, but it sounds like the injury is far less severe than it first appeared. It’s believed Xavier Ouellet will get the call in Kronwall’s absence, but since the Griffins just played a back-to-back of their own, he’ll likely sit and Marchenko will draw into the lineup after being scratched in three of the last four games.
Red Wings Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Dylan Larkin |
| Tomas Tatar | Pavel Datsyuk | Andreas Athanasiou |
| Gustav Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Darren Helm | Luke Glendening | Brad Richards |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Brendan Smith | Mike Green |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Alexey Marchenko |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Tomas Jurco
Injuries: Drew Miller (torn meniscus/ACL surgery), Johan Franzen (concussion), Niklas Kronwall (lower-body injury)
Maple Leafs Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Nikita Soshnikov | Nazem Kadri | Leo Komarov |
| Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau | William Nylander | Zach Hyman |
| Colin Greening | Brooks Laich | Peter Holland |
| Milan Michalek | Ben Smith | Michael Grabner |
Defensemen
| Jake Gardiner | Morgan Rielly |
| Martin Marincin | Connor Carrick |
| Rinat Valiev | Frank Corrado |
Goaltenders
| Jonathan Bernier (starting) |
| Garret Sparks |
| MAPLE LEAFS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 22-34-11 (55 pts; 8th in Atlantic) | Record | 34-23-11 (79 pts; 4th in Atlantic) |
| 2.28 (29th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.51 (22nd in NHL) |
| 2.91 (25th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.59 (15th) |
| 15.1% (30th) | Power Play % | 17.2% (22nd) |
| 80.5% (19th) | Penalty Kill % | 80.5% (18th) |
| Leo Komarov (19 goals) | Goals Leader | Dylan Larkin (20 goals) |
| Nazem Kadri (37 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (43 points) |
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.
