Detroit Red Wings (12-11-3) vs.
Winnipeg Jets (13-13-2)
How To Watch/Listen/Read
Puck Drop: 8:00 pm EST
TV: Fox Sports Detroit (plus)
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Jets SB Nation Blog: Arctic Ice Hockey
The Red Wings are itching down the final leg of this Metropolitan road trip in…..Winnipeg. Yeah, odd wrinkle in the schedule, but the Wings have a one-off in the prairie before returning Friday to begin a homestand against Columbus.
They’re entering Winnipeg playing some, well, okay enough, hockey as of late. The “loser point” has been kind to Detroit in extending that beloved playoff streak—just getting to overtime is important. They’ve been able to do so in five of their past seven games, winning three. In total the Wings have thrown together a respectable stretch of games since a lowly loss at home vs. Calgary Nov. 20. The team still doesn’t appear to be firing on all cylinders but points are points.
Winnipeg is 4-1 in their last five, with their last win coming on the road against a Jonathan Toewsless Chicago Blackhawks. They were treading water through the early chunk of the season despite a billowing Dustin Byfuglien and the Jake Trouba hold out. The Jets were sustained then and now are hoping to pivot through an extremely powerful and youthful forward core led by rookie superstar Patrik Laine. The Finnish Flash 2.0 has actually looked similar to Alex Ovechkin, not only with his flair but lethal shot. Blake Wheeler, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele have been more than complimentary, using a mix of size and speed to move the puck through the neutral zone and ability to finish, all having over 20 points.
The Jets had a strong showing Nov. 4 in Joe Louis Arena, when Brandon Tanev tied the game, then scored the winner with just under 2 minutes left, for the first—and so far only—two goals of his career.
Blashill ran a peculiar lineup in Brooklyn, with Lashoff in for Sproul and Larkin centering the fourth line to start the game. There has been no indication there will be major changes in the lineup, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Sproul draws back in and Larkin is moved back up to a “scoring line” for the entire game. It was a shake up game after a sloppy second half Saturday night in Pittsburgh. The Wings pulled one out in OT, message sent.
Winnipeg will possibly be missing Scheifele with the flu. He missed Sunday night’s win in Chicago. He’s listed day to day, I’ll project him in the lineup and we’ll let you know if there’s any changes.
The Wings had a travel day Monday so no practice or any speculation on fresh lines from the diggers. These projections will be based off some of the combinations we saw Sunday and will be updated for the Game Day Update.
Red Wings Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
Forwards
Tatar-Zetterberg-Mantha
Vanek-Nielsen-Glendening
Jurco-Larkin-Nyquist
Ott-Sheahan-Miller
Defense
DeKeyser-Green
Kronwall-Ouellet
Ericsson-Sproul
Starter
Mrazek
Injuries and Scratches
Howard (groin, IR, at least one week), Lashoff, Nosek, Coreau (back up)
Winnipeg Jets Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
Forwards
Nikolaj Ehlers-Bryan Little-Patrik Laine
Mathieu Perreault-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler
Andrew Copp-Adam Lowry-Drew Stafford
Brandon Tanev-Alexander Burmistrov-Marko Dano
Defense
Josh Morrissey-Dustin Byfuglien
Tobias Enstrom-Jake Trouba
Ben Chiarot-Paul Postma
Starter
Connor Hellebuyck
Injuries and Scratches
Tyler Myers (lower body), Shawn Matthias (upper body), Joel Armia, Chris Thorburn, Michael Hutchinson (back up)
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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.
