2:00p EST, Little Caesars Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: FS-D+
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Senators Blog: Silver Sevens
Four games left and counting. After a couple solid wins against the playoff bound Pittsburgh Penguins and the last place Buffalo Sabres the Red Wings find themselves wit the sixth worst record, five points clear of seventh place Edmonton. While those two wins put last place out of reach I am not really going to complain about them. The Wings have looked like they are having fun out on the ice and the young players are leading the way. While there are certainly some benefits to them losing these last four games, there is a benefit for the younger players to finish the season on a strong note. Tonight game 79 sees the Ottawa Senators, four points ahead of the Wings in the reverse standings, come to LCA to take on the boys in the Winged Wheel.
Ottawa comes to Detroit off an overtime victory over the Florida Panthers 3-2. As disappointed as we are as Wings fans about this season, imagine being Senators fans. Last season they were one game away from the Stanley Cup Finals and now they are slogging through a lost season with a possible teardown coming. Offensively they are essentially led by four guys. Mark Stone, Matt Duchene and Mike Hoffman do a lot of the heavy lifting from the forwards (with an assist from 20 goal scorer Ryan Dzingel) while Erik Karlsson keeps the Senators defenseman group from looking like the Red Wings blue line. Unfortunately for Ottawa Mark Stone missed the Florida game with a knee injury and likely will not play tonight as well. They will likely need the offense too as Craig Anderson and Mike Condon have struggled making saves with both hanging around a 900 save percentage.
Win or lose, I just hope to see some more good hockey before the Red Wings season ends next week.
Predicted Lineups
DETROIT RED WINGS
Forwards
Tyler Bertuzzi – Henrik Zetterberg – Gustav Nyquist
Anthony Mantha – Dylan Larkin – Darren Helm
Andreas Athanasiou – Frans Nielsen – Justin Abdelkader
Evgeny Svechnikov – Luke Glendening – Martin Frk
Defense
Jonathan Ericsson – Trevor Daley
Danny DeKeyser – Nick Jensen
Niklas Kronwall Joe Hicketts
Goalie
Jimmy Howard
Jared Coreau
Scratches: David Booth, Luke Witkowski, Xavier Ouellet
Injuries: Johan Franzen (LTIR), Mike Green
OTTAWA SENATORS
Forwards
Ryan Dzingel – Matt Duchene – Bobby Ryan
Mike Hoffman – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Tom Pyatt
Magnus Paajarvi – Zack Smith – Colin White
Max McCormick – Flip Chlapik – Alexandre Burrows
Defense
Tomas Chabot – Erik Karlsson
Mark Borowiecki – Cody Ceci
Christian Wolanin – Fredrik Claesson
Goalie
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Injuries: Clarke MacArthur, Chris Wideman, Mark Stone
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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.
First off, if you don’t have an SBN Username, make one! We’d love to have you, plus it’s much easier to track your predictions season-long. Then make your guess on the winning team, final score, and who the Red Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated. 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. Only one submission per person, please. The Red Wings 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 3 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct, you’ll receive 15 points.
Good luck!
