8:00p ET, MTS Centre
Winnipeg, MB
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Jet Blogs: Arctic Ice Hockey
It’s most likely cold wherever it is that you’re reading this post. I also bet it’s colder in Winnipeg. I hope Pavel Datsyuk enjoys the cold and plays tonight. He’s a game time decision. That precautionary groin injury is now a real actual groin injury thing. Over the past few seasons, groin has become one of the most hated/feared words in the English language. UPDATE: Datsyuk is not at the morning skate. So he’s probably not playing because of course.
I also don’t like infections. Brendan Smith was placed on short term 7 day (not 10, Helene) injured reserve with a hand infection after his fight the other night. Okay then. Xavier Ouellet has been called up from Grand Rapids. He’ll probably play tonight because Jakub Kindl is in the super dog house for whatever reason or he has a groin infection. Who the hell knows? If only we had some beat writers to dig a little bit.
If the Wings play like they did in Columbus, well, they might not need Datsyuk and Smith. Unfortunately, they’re not playing the BJs. The Jets are actually a decent team. I think? I mean, I won’t lie to the WIIM faithful. I haven’t seen a single Jets game all season, but hey, look, they have a decent record and would make the playoffs in the West if the season ended today. So that’s something?
Here’s to a good hockey game *raises glass*
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Johan Franzen | Henrik Zetterberg | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Jurco | Darren Helm | Daniel Cleary |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brian Lashoff |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Jakub Kindl
Injuries: Pavel Datsyuk (groin), Stephen Weiss (more groin) & Brendan Smith (infection)
Forwards
| Andrew Ladd | Bryan Little | Blake Wheeler |
| Evander Kane | Mathieu Perreault | Dustin Byfuglien |
| Adam Lowry | Mark Scheifele | Michael Frolik |
| Chris Thorburn | Jim Slater | Matt Halischuk |
Defensemen
| Tobias Enstrom | Zach Bogosian |
| Mark Stuart | Jacob Trouba |
| Adam Pardy | Paul Postma |
Goaltenders
| Ondrej Pavelec (starting) |
| Michael Hutchinson |
| JETS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 10-7-3 (23 pts; 3rd in Central) | Record | 9-4-5 (23 pts; 1st in East WC) |
| 1.90 (29th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.78 (11th in NHL) |
| 2.05 (4th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.17 (7th) |
| 9.0% (29th) | Power Play % | 19.2% (15th) |
| 86.7% (6th) | Penalty Kill % | 89.1% (3rd) |
| Blake Wheeler (8 goals) | Goal Leader | Gustav Nyquist (9 goals) |
| Blake Wheeler (13 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (17 points) |
- The Red Wings are 10-5-0-1 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise.
- Mrazek has never faced the Jets, but in his 11 careers games he’s 3-5-0 with a 1.80 GAA, .926 SV% and 2 shutouts. So yeah… his record isn’t great, but his stats are. He should play more./
