Morning Skate: Predators at Red Wings
Game 45
7p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Plus
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Preds Blog: On the Forecheck
Ya know… I really don't mind the Predators these days. In the past, this was one of those "rivalry" games. You know what I'm talking about. The expansion Preds spent years getting beat down by the Red Wings. So, of course, they hated us. We were their big rival and most hated team. From our perspective, that wasn't really the case. It was like the nat you kept shooing away. Eventually, they became a decent hockey team and ruined Nicklas Lidstrom's last season. That sucked. Add in Shea Weber smashing Henrik Zetterberg's head into the turnbuckle and it gave us an actual reason to dislike them or, dare I say, even hate them. But now? For me at least, it's passed. We're in the East. They're in the West. Our little "rivalry" was fun while it lasted.
Here in 2015, the Preds are actually a good team. They can score goals and they can play defense too. Although, we'll see how they hold up without their Vezina goaltender Pekka Rinne. Can't make excuses though. Injuries to goaltenders happen. Nowadays, they're lead by new coach Peter Laviolette and rookie sensation Filip Forsberg. We can't forget our old friend Calle Jarnkrok either. If you don't remember Jarnkrok, well, he was a Wings prospect until last season. He was traded for David Legwand and is having a decent season for the Preds. It's still one of those trades I look back on and wish we could take back, but really, who knows if the Wings would've made the playoffs or not last year without Legwand. They were injured in a bad way. Fun fact about Jarnkrok. His Swedish last name translated to English means "asset management."
If you're going down to the Joe tonight, make sure you stalk JJ and Graham. They'll be in attendance. I believe section 220 is where you'll find them. Kyle should be there too. Some other WIIM folks as well. Buy them an overpriced beer and give them a thumbs up.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Gustav Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Stephen Weiss | Darren Helm | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Joakim Andersson |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Thomas McCollum |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff & Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Johan Franzen (headaches), Tomas Jurco (back), Jakub Kindl (still not his wrist), Jimmy Howard (groin) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)
Forwards
| Filip Forsberg | Mike Ribeiro | Craig Smith |
| Colin Wilson | Mike Fisher | James Neal |
| Matt Cullen | Calle Jarnkrok | Olli Jokinen |
| Gabriel Bourque | Paul Guastad | Taylor Beck |
Defensemen
| Roman Josi | Shea Weber |
| Seth Jones | Mattie Ekholm |
| Anton Volchenkov | Victor Bartley |
Goaltenders
| Carter Hutton (starting) |
| Marek Mazanec |
| PREDATORS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 30-9-4 (64 pts; 1st in Central) | Record | 24-11-9 (57 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 3.02 (4th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.77 (13th in NHL) |
| 2.19 (1st) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.32 (3rd) |
| 15.5% (23rd) | Power Play % | 23.6% (4th) |
| 80.6% (16th) | Penalty Kill % | 86.1% (5th) |
| 2 tied with 15 goals | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (18 goals) |
| Filip Forsberg (39 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (36 points) |
- The Red Wings are 49-26-4-8 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Nashville Predators./
- Last 10 Games: Nashville 8-0-2, Detroit 7-3-0/
- This will be Peter Mrzek's first game against the Preds. In his career at the Joe, he's 1-3-1 with a 2.20 GAA and .907 SV%. /