Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Hurricanes
3 Games Left
7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit ,MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, Fox Sports Carolinas
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Hurricanes Blog: Canes Country
The Wings have 3 games remaining and while I feel certain they'll make the playoffs, whether they do it as 3rd in the Atlantic of the 8th seed is yet to be determined. The Wings could actually clinch a playoff spot tonight if they get 2 points and Ottawa loses in regulation to Pittsburgh. Below is the breakdown of probabilities of the Wings final position. I recommend the Wings beat the Canes tonight, but that's just my opinion.
(Graphic from playoffstatus.com)
The Hurricanes lost 4-3 last night to the Buffalo Sabres. Is this a trap game for the Wings, or the perfect opportunity to win a game and possibly clinch a playoff berth? Hmm?
Losing sucks, but it's not all doom and gloom and the Wings are going to make the playoffs for a 24th consecutive year. The Wings overall are playing better, and better results will come... Hopefully starting tonight. This is no time to give up, or let our fear get the best of us. We shall march on, beat the Hurricanes, take our two points, cheer for Ottawa to lose *stifles gagging reflex at what that entails*, and march onwards and upwards. We are the Detroit Mother F'ing Red Wings! We Have Captain Henrik Zetterberg leading us into battle! We have a Magician (well, maybe not tonight, but soon), Young Guns, Niklas the Kronwaller, and a goalie tanden who's extra motivated to prove they CAN be the goalies we need. Are we going to roll over and give up? No way! Hey, we might as well throw all the chips in, hold on tight to this ship, and ride out the storm together, believing in the team we love.
Now, who's going to lead us into the storm tonight? Well, I'm not completely sure. Landon Ferraro was re-called from Grand Rapids yesterday, either because Datsyuk is out after tweaking his ankle/knee/leg area against the Capitals (he missed a couple shifts in the 2nd), or to give Babcock more options since Justin Abdelkader remains on the injured list. The lines below are my pure speculation/wishful thinking and we'll keep the lines updated if there's a morning skate. I'm assuming Datsyuk is out as a "precaution".
The Expected Lineups (Updated after practice- Datsyuk will take wamups & be a game time decision)
Forwards
| Darren Helm | Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk |
| Gustav Nyquist | Riley Sheahan | Tomas Tatar |
| Stephen Weiss | Joakim Andersson | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Landon Ferraro |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Kyle Quincey |
| Brendan Smith | Marek Zidlicky |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Jakub Kindl & Danny Cleary (Hopefully)
Injuries: Johan Franzen (concussion) Jonas Gustavsson (head), Tomas Jurco (upper body), Erik Cole (neck), Justin Abdelkader (hand/finger),
Forwards
| Eric Staal | Jordan Staal | Elias Lindholm |
| Nathan Gerbe | Victor Rask | Chris Terry |
| Jeff Skinner | Andrej Nestrasil | Alexander Semin |
| Brad Malone | Jay McClement | Pay Dwyer |
Defensemen
| Ron Hainsey | Justin Faulk |
| Jonn-Michael Liles | Brett Bellemore |
| Michal Jordan | Danny Biega |
Goaltenders
| Cam Ward (Starting) |
| Anton Khudobin |
| HURRICANES | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 29-38-11 (69 pts; 26th in NHL) | Record | 41-25-13 (95 pts; 2nd Wild Card) |
| 2.25 (27th NHL) | Goals Per Game | 2.82 (10th in NHL) |
| 2.70 (18th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.60 (15th) |
| 19.0% (9th) | Power Play % | 24.0% (2nd) |
| 85.0% (3rd) | Penalty Kill % | 80.8% (18th) |
| Eric Staal (22 goals) | Goal Leader | Tomas Tatar (28 goals) |
| Eric Staal (51 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (62 points) |
- The Red Wings are 36-27-8-0 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Hurricanes./
- Last 10 Games: Detroit 3-5-2, Carolina 3-4-3
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- Jimmy Howard is 2-2-0 all-time against the Hurricanes in the regular season with a 1.99 GAA, .930 SV% /
Let's Go Red Wings!!!