Morning Skate: Red Wings @ Senators — Game Preview and How to Watch

Jamie Zadow

• 2 min read Front Page

How to Watch

Time: 7:30 PM EST

Place: Canadian Tire Centre

TV: FS-D, SN1, SN360

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM

Sens Blog: Silver Seven Sens

Today was an optional morning skate as the Wings hosted the Canucks last night. And, the team got an offensive boost with the addition of Evgeny Svechnikov, who was recalled from Grand Rapids.

Also, one quick note that we don’t have an update on at this time, Danny DeKeyser left last night’s game early in the 3rd period with a lower-body injury. His status will need to be monitored prior to tonight’s game in Ottawa.

Game Preview

The Red Wings (3-6-0) will play their second of a back-to-back tonight against the Senators (1-6-1). After carrying a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period last night against the Canucks, the Wings imploded and allowed FIVE goals in the final 20 minutes — Bo Horvat notched the hat trick. The loss marked their fifth straight and they will look to bounce back against a Sens team that has dropped four straight contests themselves.

Both teams are searching for answers early on this season and will be playing some desperate hockey to say the least. The question marks in Detroit have been where will they get some secondary scoring to alleviate the pressure on their top line? Svechnikov got the call last night and played a feisty game — mixing it up with Jake Virtanen on more than one occasion — but, it remains to be seen if Jeff Blashill will move him into a top six role tonight.

It may have made more sense to give Michael Rasmussen a try, playing the center position on the second line while keeping Andreas Athanasiou out on the wing where he seems more comfortable. At any rate, Svechnikov is a dynamic skilled winger and should be able to add that offensive punch that Blashill is looking for.

Goals will be at a premium in this game as the Wings are averaging 2.38 GF/G (T-27th) and the Sens are averaging just 2.13 GF/G (30th). To make matters worse, the Sens have a league-worst 4.0 PP%, something that head coach D.J. Smith has been searching for answers to early on this year.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it as this game is a battle of the bottom feeders in the Atlantic Division to this point.