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Morning Skate: Red Wings vs. Maple Leafs — Game Preview and How to Watch

How to Watch

Time: 7:00 PM ET

Place: Little Caesars Arena

TV: FS-D, SNO, SN1

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM

Leafs Blog: Pension Plan Puppets

Game Preview

It’s been a whirlwind past couple of weeks in Toronto Maple Leafs land that ultimately culminated with the firing of their head coach Mike Babcock. Of course, for the Detroit Red Wings and their fans, they are all too familiar with Babcock’s history having made it to the Stanley Cup in back-to-back years from 2007-2009, capturing a championship with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Leafs (11-10-4) stumbled through the first quarter of the season under Babcock and the front office made a change, electing to bring up Sheldon Keefe from their AHL affiliate, hoping a new voice in the locker room would resonate with the players. Well, so far it has as the team won their first two games with a new bench boss and now shift their focus to a lowly Red Wings (7-16-3) team that have lost four straight games.

This is certainly a tale of two different seasons for these Original Six foes, with the young, high-powered offense of the Leafs looking to capitalize on a somewhat youthful Wings roster still struggling to find its identity. But, this is an opportunity for Wings fans to get a glimpse of what the team could look like in a few years if one day their young potential superstars pan out.

Since the change in head coach, Tyson Barrie has found the back of the net twice and tallied an assist. Has Keefe’s introduction done him some good? It would certainly appear that way as he and many others are playing much looser, while seemingly more comfortable. For the Wings, if they want to find their way back into the win column it will have to be without their leading scorer, Anthony Mantha, as head coach Jeff Blashill announced he will be out at least the next two weeks with a lower-body injury.

The Leafs got the best of the Wings in their Oct. 12 meeting, 5-2, and the buds have won three of the past five matchups between these two teams.

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