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Morning Skate: Rangers at Red Wings

7:00p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NHL Network, Sportsnet

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Ranger Blog: Blueshirt Banter

I’m really glad Stephen Weiss is playing tonight.

Think about that opening sentence for a moment. It wasn’t long ago that the Weiss experiment was an utter disaster. An injured player not even coming close to living up to the expectations of the the contract he signed two offseasons ago. Now? He’s a very important part of this team and the Red Wings need #90 in the lineup.

Weiss has 4 goals and 9 points in 7 games this season. That’s the kind of production you envisioned when the Wings brought him aboard. Granted, he’s not doing it as a 2nd line center, but I’m not going to complain about that. He’s produced so far with the likes of Pavel Datsyuk and Darren Helm and he’s produced on a line with Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan. Positive signs that he’s able to put up points regardless of the players around him. He’s provided depth to the lineup and gives Mike Babcock some new options when putting together his lines.

So Weiss, I hope this hot steak is a preview of what we can expect this rest of this season and I hope it continues tonight against the Rangers. It’s a whole hell of a lot more fun to watch you on the ice than sitting on the sidelines.

The Expected Lineups (subject to change)

Forwards

Johan Franzen Henrik Zetterberg Gustav Nyquist
Tomas Tatar Pavel Datsyuk Darren Helm
Tomas Jurco Riley Sheahan Stephen Weiss
Joakim Andersson Luke Glendening Drew Miller

Defensemen

Niklas Kronwall Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith Jakub Kindl

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard (starting)
Petr Mrazek


Scratches: Brian Lashoff & Daniel Cleary

Injuries: Justin Abdelkader (shoulder) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)

Forwards

Rick Nash Derick Brassard Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider Derek Stepan Martin St. Louis
Carl Hagelin Kevin Hayes Lee Stempniak
J.T. Miller Dominic Moore Jesper Fast


Defensemen

Ryan McDonagh Dan Girardi
Marc Staal Dan Boyle
Matt Hunwick Kevin Klein


Goaltenders

Cam Talbot (starting)
Henrik Lundqvist

RANGERS THE MATCH-UP RED WINGS
11-9-4 (26 pts; 3rd in Metro) Record 15-6-5 (35 pts; 3rd in Atlantic)
2.92 (9th in NHL) Goals Per Game 3.12 (4th in NHL)
2.75 (20th) Goals Against Per Game 2.46 (10th)
17.3% (19th) Power Play % 23.1% (6th)
80.0% (19th) Penalty Kill % 85.6% (5th)
Rick Nash (16 goals) Goal Leader Gustav Nyquist (12 goals)
Rick Nash (26 points) Points Leader Henrik Zetterberg (24 points)

  • The Red Wings are 261-212-103-3 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the New York Rangers.
  • Last 10 Games: New York 5-3-2, Detroit 7-3-0
  • Howard is 2-2-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .949 SV% in 5 career games against the Rangers./

Let’s Go Red Wings.

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