7:30p ET, Amalie Arena
Tampa, FA
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NHLN (US), TVA, SN360
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Ligtning Blog: Raw Charge
The only thing worse than seemingly always losing to the Florida Panthers is always losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Sure, Tampa is better than Florida. We know that. Everyone knows that. They’re a Stanley Cup contender. But they’re a team we’re chasing in the standings and, most likely, a team we’re going to need to beat if we want to make it out of round one.
Last night, the Red Wings were bad. The only thing worse was the Panthers broadcast. Now the Wings are going to get a Lightning team that’s rested and hasn’t played since taking down Montreal on Monday. The good news is that the Wings haven’t played a hockey game since Sunday.
Tampa is a good team. They score more than anyone else in the league. They have the puck just about more than any other team. If the Wings recent trend of getting out shot by teams continues tonight it is going to really hurt them. Tampa is just going to pile on. Detroit needs to be at it’s best defensively tonight, especially without Pavel Datsyuk in the lineup once again. If they win this game, there’s still a chance to for home ice in round one. If you lose, start snuggling into the 3rd in the Atlantic and get ready to hit the road for the playoffs.
The Expected Lineups (Subject to Change)
Forwards
| Erik Cole | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Gustav Nyquist | Joakim Andersson | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Kyle Quincey | Danny DeKeyser |
| Brendan Smith | Marek Zidlicky |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Daniel Cleary, Stephen Weiss & Jakub Kindl
Injuries: Pavel Datsyuk (lower body) & Johan Franzen (concussion)
Forwards
| Alex Killorn | Steven Stamkos | Ryan Callahan |
| Nikita Kucherov | Tyler Johnson | Vladislav Namestinikow |
| Jonathan Drouin | Valtteri Filppula | Brian Boyle |
| Brendan Morrow | Mike Angelidis | J.T. Brown |
Defensemen
| Victor Hedman | Anton Stralman |
| Matt Carle | Jason Garrison |
| Mark Barberio | Andrej Sustr |
Goaltenders
| Ben Bishop |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy |
| LIGHTNING | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 43-21-7 (93 pts; 2nd in Atlantic) | Record | 38-20-11 (87 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 3.21 (1st in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.87 (8th in NHL) |
| 2.52 (12th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.56 (14th) |
| 18.4% (15th) | Power Play % | 25.1% (2nd) |
| 83.2% (9th) | Penalty Kill % | 81.2% (15th) |
| Steven Stamkos (39 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (25 goals) |
| Tyler Johnson & Stamkos tied with 65 points | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (59 points) |
- The Red Wings are 26-8-2-3 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Tampa Bay Lightning./
- Last 10 Games: Tampa 6-3-1, Detroit 5-5-0/
- Howard is 3-1-2 all-time against the Lightning with a 2.12 GAA, .929 SV% and 1 shutout./
