7:00p ET, Air Canada Centre
Toronto, ON
TV: FSD, CBC, CITY, NHLN-US
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM CBS Sports Radio
Maple Leafs Blog: Pension Plan Puppets
Back at it tonight for a back-to-back against a Maple Leafs team that’s been waiting since Thursday. Last time these teams met, the Wings lost 1-0 on a butt goal and hurt their playoff chances. Detroit’s win last night put them in the Atlantic Division’s three-seed spot for all of 40 minutes before Boston’s victory over the Blues knocked them back out of the playoffs. A win tonight would at least guarantee you’d get to go to sleep with the team in the playoffs (pending the results of the Boston/Chicago game on Sunday).
Toronto has actively been tanking all season, but they’ve been doing it the right way. They’re still trying to win; they’re just doing it with kids who are allowed to make a lot of mistakes so they can learn. With the Wings having played last night, this is going to be a real tough test. Playoff teams simply can’t afford to blow chances like this.
I don’t expect any lineup changes tonight, but who knows? Jeff Blashill wouldn’t tell the diggers who is starting in goal, so what’s listed below is simply my preference.
Red Wings Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Dylan Larkin |
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Brad Richards |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Gustav Nyquist |
| Anthony Mantha | Luke Glendening | Andreas Athanasiou |
Defensemen
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Niklas Kronwall | Alexey Marchenko |
| Jonathan Ericsson | Mike Green |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Tomas Jurco, Teemu Pulkkinen, Brendan Smith
Injuries: Drew Miller (torn meniscus/ACL surgery), Johan Franzen (concussion)
Maple Leafs Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Milan Michalek | Nazem Kadri | Michael Grabner |
| Tobias Lindberg | Tyler Bozak | Kasperi Kapanen |
| Colin Greening | William Nylander | PA Parenteau |
| Brad Boyes | Byron Froese | Brooks Laich |
Defensemen
| Morgan Rielly | Martin Marincin |
| Jake Gardiner | Frank Corrado |
| Andrew Campbell | TJ Brennan |
Goaltenders
| Jonathan Bernier (starting) |
| Garret Sparks |
Let’s Go Red Wings!!!
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Game Day Prediction Contest
Would you like to predict the outcome of the game and potentially become internet famous? Well you’re in luck, because here’s your opportunity. Here’s how it works.
Make your game predictions on the winning team, final score, and who the Wings player of the game will be. Enter the required information into the form below using the formats indicated in the questions. If you don’t use those formats, your answers will be disregarded. All submissions are timestamped and will be accepted only until the official game start time. All other submissions after that will be disregarded. Only one submission per person, please. POTG will be determined by the collective of WiiM writers.
Each correct winning team prediction is worth 1 point. Each correct player of the game prediction is worth 2 points. Each correct final score prediction is worth 5 points. If you get all three correct you’ll receive 15 points.
