7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena

Detroit, MI

TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NHL Network

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket

Islanders Blogs: Lighthouse Hockey

Happy Friday everyone! Hey, want to here a joke? The shootout. The Wings host the New York Islanders who, get this, won their last game against the Devils in a shootout. While it's incredibly frustrating to lose four games in a row, by losing three of them in a shootout, the Wings at least picked up 3 points in their last 4 games. I guess if we're going to lose, at least picking up a few points is better than nothing. Teams go through losing streaks, rough patches, whatever you want to call it, but they suck and i want ours to end.

The Islanders used to be a bottom scraping team but not this year. The Wings have a nasty habit of playing down to their opponents, so with the Islanders not being garbage maybe we can beat them. Detroit has the 6th best even strength Corsi in the NHL at 53%, but the Islanders are only two spots behind them with an EV Corsi of 52.4%.

Johan Franzen is expected to play tonight and he and the team are saying it's the flu he's been sick with. With Mule returning, Grandpa Buckets gets to sit again. Much to the delight of everyone, Jakub Kindl and Brian Lashoff are both healthy scratches again and Xavier Ouellet stays and plays. For that reason alone I feel like celebrating (with a win, of course). After playing 5 games in 8 nights, the Wings have now had 2 nights off in between games this week so hopefully they've had time to rest physically, but more importantly mentally. It's a showdown in Motown.

Despite the painful shootout losses, the Wings are still in 3rd place in the division, Tied with 2nd place Montreal. The Leafs lost last night to the Hurricanes and remain 1 point behind the Wings. Montreal lost last night to the Ducks so a win tonight by the Wings Would put them in 2nd in the Division, and potentially 1st depending on what Tampa does against the Devils tonight.

In the right corner, weighing in at a combined weight of 5,073 pounds, The Detroit Red Wings! In the left corner, weighing in at a combined weight of 5,360 pounds, The New York Islanders!

Ladies and Gentlemen, let's get ready to R-U-U-U-U-M-M-M-M-B-B-B-B-BL-L-L-L-E!

The Expected Lines (subject to change... Duh)

Forwards

Defensemen

Goaltenders

Scratches: Brian Lashoff , Jakub Kindl, & Daniel Cleary

Injuries: Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder), Stephen Weiss (Shoulder)

Forwards

Defensemen

Goaltenders

• The Red Wings are 47-45-6-2 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the New York Islanders.

• Last 10 Games: Detroit 5-2-3, Islanders 6-4-0
• Howard is 1-2-1 with a 2.55 GAA and .910 SV% in 4 career games against the Islanders./