Morning Skate: Red Wings at Maple Leafs
Game 20
7:00p ET, Air Canada Centre
Toronto, ON
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, CBC
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Leafs Blogs: Pension Plan Puppets
Grab your caribou saddle and your winter boots because the Wings are heading North (East?) of the border to take on the Maple Leafs. Justin Abdelkader and Tomas Jurco each have 3 points in their last 2 games, Riley Sheahan has 4 points in his last 3 games and Tomas Tatar is red hot with 6 points in his last 4 games. Still no Datsyuk yet but the Wings can certainly win this game even without him. The Leafs haven't been good, but they did win their last game against the Lightning and Lupul, Booth, and Kozun are all still inured.
I like it when the Wings win, they should do that more, tonight for example.
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
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Jakub Kindl, Stephen Weiss (in GR for a conditioning stint)
Injuries: Pavel Datsyuk (groin), Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder), & Brendan Smith (hand infection)
Leafs Lineup (names courtesy of the WIIM collective)
Forwards
| James free candy van Riemsdyk | Tyler Prozak | Phil Kessel Run |
| Leo-nardo NinjaTurtle Komarov | Grammar Nazem Kadri | Mike Ho Ho Ho Santorelli |
| Daniel Because Of Winnik Dixie | Peter Holland Oates | David Lewison Clarkson |
| I'm A Dick Panik | Trevor Not Thompson Smith | Josh Don't Call Me Ville Leivo |
Defensemen
| Dion I've Had Phaneuf | Cody not Franzen Franson |
| Jake I shoulda been a Gardiner | Roman The Greek Polak |
| Morgan Bare Rielly NHL-Caliber | Stephane Robitussin |
Goaltenders
| Jamethon Reimnier (starting) |
| Jonathes Bernimer |
Injuries: David "Sir Not Appearing In This Film" Booth, Joffrey There's Always A Lupul, Brandon Kissing Kozun
| LEAFS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 10-8-2 (22 pts; 6th in Atlantic) | Record | 10-4-5 (25 pts;th in Atlantic) |
| 3.15 (3rd in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.84 (9th in NHL) |
| 3.05 (24th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.21 (7th) |
| 20.3% (10th) | Power Play % | 19.5% (15th) |
| 84.3% (8th) | Penalty Kill % | 89.6% (2nd) |
| Phil Kessel (11 goals) | Goal Leader | Gustav Nyquist (9 goals) |
| Phil Kessel (23 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (17 points) |
- The Red Wings are 280-273-93-4 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Toronto Maple Leafs
- Jimmy Howard is 3-1-1 with a 2.33 GAA, .910 SV% in 6 starts against Turana./