Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Canucks Start Time, Broadcasts, Line Combinations

7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: FS-D+, Sportsnet

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Canucks Blog: Nucks Misconduct

The Red Wings had their 13-game point streak snapped by a late collapse against the Buffalo Sabres. Earlier this season in Vancouver, the Red Wings were the beneficiaries of the same kind of collapse by the Canucks, as Pulkkinen and Tatar goals erased a 2-0 deficit on October 24th before Gustav Nyquist won it in overtime to salvage the only win for Detroit out of Western Canada.

Detroit is still looking for their 800th win at the Joe Louis Arena, since they failed to get there on Monday. .

Vancouver isn’t a very good team this season, but they’re not a very bad one either. The Canucks are caught between being a few pieces away from making noise in what is a laughably weak Pacific Division this year and being a few pieces away from needing to blow things up even more.

Looking at things as a whole, there’s nothing the Canucks do particularly well. They’re bottom-third in score-adjusted CF% and middling-at-best in pretty much all categories. However, they are top-five in lowest-event teams at evens, so they play a stifling structured game. The Sedins remain incredibly dangerous offensive threats as well, but Henrik left last night’s game in Philadelphia with an lower-body injury in the 2nd period.

Let’s face it, everything about this game says the Wings should have the advantage on paper. Vancouver is playing their second on back-to-back nights, their third in four, and their fourth in six nights on a road trip that’s barely half over. Meanwhile, the Wings haven’t played since Monday and continue to enjoy the home-heavy schedule that is the first half of this season. We all know the game isn’t won on paper though. The concept of a “statement game” may or may not actually exist, but I’d like to see one for the Wings.

(and just to be clear in case the jokester hockey gods are listening, I don’t mean that I want the statement of this game for the Wings to say “we suck”)

Red Wings Expected Lineups

Forwards

Defensemen

Goaltenders

Scratches: Jakub Kindl

Injuries: Drew Miller (jaw), Teemu Pulkkinen (shoulder), Johan Franzen (concussion), Kyle Quincey (ankle)

Canucks Expected Lineup

Forwards

(Note: No idea who gets in between yesterday’s scratches Andrey Pedan and Ronalds Kenins or what happens with the lines without Henrik. Just pretend it’s you. Congrats! You’re a Canuck now!)

Defensemen

Goaltenders

• The Red Wings are 92-63-18 all-time in the regular season against the Canucks.

• Last 10 Games: Detroit 5-1-4, Vancouver 3-5-2
• Jimmy Howard is 12-6-2 with a .913 SV% and 2.52 GAA in 20 career games against the Canucks./

Let’s Go Red Wings!!!

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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.