Time: 7:30 PM EST

Place: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit MI

TV: BSDET, BSSW

Radio: WXYT-97.1 FM

Stars Blog: Defending Big D

Welcome back to Red Wings hockey everybody!

Tonight the Wings welcome the Dallas Stars for a rematch of the 5-2 drubbing Detroit took in Texas back on November 16th. The two teams come into tonight’s matchup with similar standings points but with Dallas having three games in hand and a better goal differential.

That’s right, the Stars are still a better team than the Red Wings, but for how much longer?

The two teams share one more thing in common: their most recent game was a comeback overtime win in Buffalo. The big difference there is that Detroit did that on Monday night while Dallas flies into Detroit immediately after their Sabre rattling.

There are two big game-within-the-game questions looming tonight:

Will Jeff Blashill put the newly-acquired Gemel Smith in the lineup to play against the team that drafted him and for whom he’s played 77 of his 88 NHL games?

Will somebody kick the snot out of Jamie Benn?