Carolina Hurricanes (1-2-2, 8th Metropolitan Division) vs.
Detroit Red Wings (4-2-0, 3rd Atlantic Division)
How To Watch/Listen/Read
Puck drop: 7:30pm EST
TV: Fox Sports Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Hurricanes SB Nation blog: Canes Country
The Red Wings are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the NHL. The hell I know, either. But here they are on a four game winning streak backed by superb goaltending, the craftiness of Thomas Vanek and Gustav Nyquist and progressively cohesive puck movement in the past two games.
Detroit has beaten two teams that’ll likely end up among the three best in the Western Conference. At home, however, you take it how you can get it. Beating the Predators and Sharks back to back was a welcome surprise.
Now the Wings pivot to the Carolina Hurricanes, who will be one of the peskiest teams in the NHL this season. They’re a borderline wildcard team that’s still probably a year or two (and an actual starting goaltender) away from legit contention in a loaded Metro division.
Carolina brings the likes of Jeff Skinner, rookie Sebastian Aho and Justin Faulk, who are all excellent puck movers that have defensemen back on their heels. Add in vets Jordan Staal and Lee Stempniak who can finish around the net, the Hurricanes will make this game tough on a Wings defense that’s been prone to giving up a lot of shots of shots and high danger chances.
Something to look out for: Jeff Skinner missed practice yesterday while being evaluated for an upper body injury. Former Red Wing Andrej Nestrasil was filling in as a placeholder for Skinner on his line with Stempniak and Victor Rask.
Red Wings Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
(Courtesy our friend, Mlive’s Ansar Khan)
Forwards
Nyquist-Nielsen-Larkin
Tatar-Zetterberg-Sheahan
Athanasiou-Helm-Vanek
Ott-Glendening-Miller
Defense
DeKeyser-Green
Smith-Sproul
Ericsson-Marchenko
Power Play
Unit 1-Tatar-Neilsen-Zetterberg-Vanek (net-front)-Green
Unit 2-Nyquist-Larkin-Sheahan-Helm (net-front)-Sproul
Starter
Petr Mrazek
Scratches
Ouellet, Abdelkader (day-to-day, lower body injury), Jimmy Howard (back up)
As you can see, lineups are pretty much the same as the San Jose game. Why mess with what was the Wings best offensive performance so far this season?
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lineup, Injuries and Scratches
(Courtesy The Daily Face Off)
Forwards
Jeff Skinner-Victor Rask-Lee Stempniak
Joakim Nordstrom-Jordan Staal-Sebastian Aho
Teuvo Teravainen-Elias Lindholm-Phil Di Giuseppe
Bryan Bickell-Jay McClement-Viktor Stalberg
Defense
Ron Hainsey-Justin Faulk
Jaccob Slavin-Brett Pesce
Noah Hanafin-Klas Dahlbeck
Power Play
Unit 1- Skinner-Rask-Bickell (net-front)-Hanafin-Stempniak
Unit 2- Aho-Staal (net-front)-Teravainen-Lindholm-Faulk
Starter
Eddie Lack
Scratches
Andrej Nestrasil,Martin Frk (familiar names, eh?) Cam Ward (back up)
If Skinner doesn’t play that’ll be a boost to the Red Wings. Expect Teravainen to jump up into his role on the first line and Nestrasil to slot in the fourth line. But considering the lines in practice, I expect Skinner to play.
Strap in for a good one. The Hurricanes have the ability to surprise you.
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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.
