Morning Skate: Red Wings at Flames
Game 41
9:30p ET, Scociabank Saddledome
Calgary, AB
TV: Fox Sports Detroit-Plus
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Flames Blog: Matchsticks & Gasoline
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Huh. what? Where am I? Oh, sorry I fell asleep after that late game last night. Boy do I not miss West Coast games. The Wings pulled out a win last night against the Oilers and get right back on the ice tonight against Jiri Hudler and the Flames. While the Wings are playing their 2nd game in 2 nights, the Flames have had 5 days to rest since their last game against the Islanders. Unfortunately the Wings will be without Tomas Jurco tonight after he was held out of the 3rd period last night for "precautionary" reasons with what was reported as back spasms. Joakim Andersson will most likely come in to help bolster the Wings PK, while reuniting the stone hands line.
There really aren't any games the Wings can afford to piss away any points because the we can't count on other teams in the division pissing away points. I don't want to have to scrape and claw our way into the playoffs again and a game like tonight is one that we should win. The Flames have been a bit better this year than many expected but they're still not a "good" team. I'm a little nervous that we'll come out looking slow and discombobulated tonight. I really hope I'm worried for no good reason. Hey, maybe Luke Glendening will get another power play goal tonight. Stop laughing, it happened once and I'll bet you didn't think THAT was possible either. I want 2 more points tonight, go get 'em boys!
The Expected Lineups (subject to chance on Babcock's discretion)
Forwards
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Stephen Weiss |
| Gustav Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Johan Franzen |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff, & Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Jakub Kindl (elbow) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder), Tomas Jurco (back)
Forwards
| Curtis Glencross | Sean Monahan | Joe Colborne |
| Johnny Hockey | Josh Jooris | Don't Forget The Stairs |
| Mason Raymond | Michael Backlund | Paul Byron |
| Brandon Bolig | Matt Stajan | Lance Bourma |
Defensemen
| Mark Giordano | T.J. Brodie |
| Kris Russell | Dennis Wideman |
| Cameron Diaz | Deryk Engelland |
Goaltenders
| Karri Ramo (starting) |
| Jonas HIller |
| FLAMES | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 21-16-3 (45 pts; 3rd in WC race) | Record | 21-10-9 (51 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.80 (13th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.80 (12th in NHL) |
| 2.60 (17th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.35 (6th) |
| 18.5% (17th) | Power Play % | 24.2% (2nd) |
| 76.5% (26th) | Penalty Kill % | 86.4% (4th) |
| Jiri Hudler (13 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (16 goals) |
| Jiri Hudler (38 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (34 points) |
- The Red Wings are 70-65-16-1 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Calgary Flames.
- Last 10 Games: Detroit 4-4-2, Calgary 4-5-1
- Petr Mrazek has never played against the Flames but he is hot stuff, you might even say he's on fire and our fire is better than the Flames./