Morning Skate: Red Wings vs. Blues — Game Preview and How to Watch
How to Watch
Time: 5:00 PM EST
Place: Little Caesars Arena
TV: FS-D, FS-MW
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM
Blues Blog: St. Louis Game Time
Game Preview
The Red Wings (3-8-0) played a fairly sound game on Friday night, but ultimately came up short against the Sabres, 2-0. It marked the team’s seventh straight loss and they now sit just one point ahead of the Senators at the bottom of the Atlantic Division.
Despite the loss there were positives — for instance, they kept the goals against at a much more manageable number — like, the 41 shots they piled on the Sabres, which was the highest total so far on the year. Plus, it was a nice story to see Givani Smith get his shot at the NHL level (his Dad sure was proud) and inject a little bit of grit into the lineup.
As the Wings near closing out the month of October, they set their sights on the defending Stanley Cup champions to put an end to this losing skid. The Blues (5-3-3) currently sit third in the Central Division, picking up where they left off from in June.
Winners of two in a row prior to last night’s loss against Boston, this will be a big test for the young Wings as they try to right the ship early on in the year. On paper it’s a mismatch, but again, the boys in red and white will need to rely on their speed to create dangerous scoring chances in front of the Blues’ net.
Andreas Athanasiou played his best game of the year against the Sabres, but remains snake bitten when it comes to finding the back of the net. The 25-year-old has just two assists in nine games this season and it’s clear that Jeff Blashill continues to churn the line blender in an effort to get him going offensively.
For the Blues, Vladimir Tarasenko will be one player to keep tabs on as he’s posted six points in his last five games and has nine points in 15 career games against the Wings.
These two teams have met 285 times in their franchise histories with the Wings leading the all-time series 124-116-37-8.