How to Watch
When: 7:30 PM Eastern
Where: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: FSD
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM
Oilers Blog: Copper and Blue
Game Preview
The Wings’ record is 3-9 now. Doesn’t feel good. Not at all. The Wings were desperate for a win on Sunday against the Blues, and they played like it, except for half of the first and a few minutes in the third. Now Detroit looks to another enemy to set themselves straight after being adrift for over two weeks.
The Edmonton Oilers lead the Pacific division and possess a potent power play, which is what ultimately sank the Wings on Sunday. In a way, the Oilers are a bit like the Wings; Edmonton’s three best forwards have scored 25 of their goals so far this season, while the rest of the team has scored 11. Shut down McDavid, Draisaitl, and Neal, and the Wings will have a pretty good shot in this one. Tall order, I know, but that is what the players will be called to do tonight.
Perhaps the biggest story line is the return of a man with an incredible legacy in Detroit. That man, is Riley Sheahan. I predict he scores a hat trick against Detroit tonight, which is one more goal than he scored while playing for the Wings in the entirety of the 2016-17 season. Other than that there is no major plot line that we need to cover. They don’t even have one Michigander on the roster, or anyone who played in college with Larkin, so there’s not a single person to run an interest story on.
Moving on, it’s a little weird that it’s still October and the Red Wings are about to be done playing the Oilers for the year. They met eleven days ago in Alberta, with the Wings dropping the decision 2-1. But those are the scheduling quirks that get thrown at teams sometimes, so if you want to catch McDavid and Draisaitl and the Red Wings at the same time, this is your last opportunity for the year.
I’m going to leave a little throwback clip for nostalgia’s sake. This is from the Red Wings first trip to the Western Conference Finals ever, back in 1987. The last time the Wings had been a contender was in the Original Six era, before there were conferences. Yzerman and the Wings ended up losing the series to Gretzky and the Oilers, but they did take Game 1. Lets hope they can snag one from Edmonton tonight.
