Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Stars
Game 26
7:30p ET, Joe Louis Arena
Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NHL Network
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Stars Blogs: Defending Big D
I've been told that all good things must come to an end, and the Wings ended their four game win streak so emphatically atrociously that I think I threw up in my mouth a little. But today is a new day, a new opponent, and a new chance to start a new winning streak. *The sun will come out.. tomorrow.. bet my bottom..........* The Wings have a chance to rinse some of that disgusting vomit aftertaste out of their mouths as they welcome the not so good Dallas Stars to the Joe. Justin Abdelkader is still out with a shoulder injury and I expect to see more line juggling by Mike Babcock in an attempt to get all lines firing again. For now I'm assuming he'll start with the same lines he did last game and adjust if necessary from there.
I expected the Stars to be a lot better this season than they are, so that will teach me to have expectations. I was actually excited about this game because it would have been the first time Patrick Eaves returned to the Joe and I was looking forward to giving him a very warm welcome from my living room and hearing and seeing the reception the fans in attendance would give him. Sadly, Patty suffered a broken ankle Tuesday so we won't even get to see him play. As hockey fans, there are a lot of players we're fans of as long as they're on our team, but as soon as they go somewhere else, we couldn't care less about them. Patrick Eaves is a person I will always love and cheer for, I have nothing but respect, appreciation, and warm fuzzy feelings for him and this just sucks... big time.
The Wings should have beat the Panthers but they didn't. Now's their chance to beat another team they should beat.
There once was a team from Dallas
Who had only won one Chalice
They came to Motown
To get a beat down
That the Wings gave to them with great malice.
The Expected Lines (subject to change... Duh)
Forwards
| Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Johan Franzen |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Gustav Nyquist |
| Tomas Jurco | Stephen Weiss | Darren Helm |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Drew Miller |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Brendan Smith |
| Kyle Quincey | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard (starting) |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Brian Lashoff & Daniel Cleary
Injuries: Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder) & Justin Abdelkader (shoulder)
Forwards
| Jamie Benn | Tyler Seguin | Erik Cole |
| Colton Sceviour | Jason Spezza | Ales Hemsky |
| Antoine Roussel | Cody Eakin | Ryan Garbutt |
| Shawn Horcoff | Vernon Fiddler | Travis Moen |
Defensemen
| Trevor Daley | Alex Goligoski |
| Jordie Benn | Jason Demers |
| John Klingberg | Jamie Oleksaik |
Goaltenders
| Kari Lehtonen (starting) |
| Anders Lindback |
| STARS | THE MATCH-UP | RED WINGS |
| 9-11-5 (23 pts; 5th in WC race) | Record | 14-6-5 (33 pts; 3rd in Atlantic) |
| 2.88 (10th in NHL) | Goals Per Game | 3.04 (6th in NHL) |
| 3.52 (30th) | Goals Against Per Game | 2.48 (10th) |
| 13.6% (24th) | Power Play % | 22.8% (6th) |
| 79.1% (21st) | Penalty Kill % | 86.2% (4th) |
| Tyler Seguin (18 goals) | Goal Leader | Gustav Nyquist (12) |
| Tyler Seguin (31 points) | Points Leader | Henrik Zetterberg (24 points) |
- The Red Wings are 108-97-34-6 (W-L-T-OTL) all-time in the regular season against the Dallas Stars.
- Last 10 Games: Detroit 7-3-0, Dallas4-5-1
- Howard is 7-5-2 with a 2.20 GAA and .923 SV% and 1 Shut out in 14 career games against the Stars./