Morning Skate: Red Wings at Oilers
Game 40
9:30p ET, Rexall Place
Edmonton, AB
TV: Fox Sports Detroit-Plus
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Oilers Blog: The Copper & Blue
The Red Wings could really use a win tonight. It's like they've been stuck in neutral the last few weeks. It wasn't long ago they were right there at the top of the division race. Now? Teams like the Lightning and Canadiens have started to pull away in the standings. They could still be caught, but with every loss it will get harder and harder thanks to all the three point games. And while those teams pull away, the Wings are getting close to the Wild Card pack. There's still a healthy lead on the Maple Leafs and Bruins, but it would be great to just step on their throats now. Points earned here in January will go a long was come March and April.
And who better to right the ship against than the Edmonton Oilers? No game in the NHL is a guaranteed win, but if you're looking for two points, the Oilers don't win much. No messing around tonight. Ideally the Wings can get up early with a decent lead and hopefully cut back on ice time for some of the top guys. Rest up for the second night of the back-to-back. Get the two points tonight and right the ship on this western Canadian road trip.
The Expected Lineups
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Justin Abdelkader |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Jurco |
| Gustav Nyquist | Darren Helm | Johan Franzen |
| Stephen Weiss | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Xavier Ouellet | Brendan Smith |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff, Daniel Cleary & Joakim Andersson
Injuries: Jakub Kindl (not his wrist) & Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)
Forwards
| Taylor Hall | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Jordan Eberle |
| Benoit Pouliot | Derek Roy | Teddy Purcell |
| Nail Yakupov | Anton Lander | Matt Fraser |
| Matt Hendricks | Boyd Gordon | Rob Klinkhammer |
Defensemen
| Andrew Ference | Jeff Petry |
| Oscar Klefbom | Justin Schultz |
| Nikita Nikitin | Mark Fayne |
Goaltenders
| Ben Scrivens (starting) |
| Viktor Fasth |
| OILERS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 9-22-9 (27 pts; Last in NHL) | Record | 20-10-9 (49 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.18 (27th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.77 (14th in NHL) |
| 3.30 (29th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.36 (6th) |
| 12.6% (29th) | Power Play % | 23.1% (4th) |
| 86.2% (5th) | Penalty Kill % | 86.9% (4th) |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (11 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (16 goals) |
| Two tied with 24 points | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (33 points) |
- The Red Wings are 61-36-13-11 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Edmonton Oilers.
- Last 10 Games: Edmonton 2-4-4, Detroit 3-4-3
- Jimmy Howard is 10-1-2 with a 1.87 GAA, .928 SV% and 2 shutouts in 13 career games against the Oilers./