How to Watch
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Place: Little Caesars Arena
TV: FS-D, FS-N
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket, 1270 AM
Wild Blog: Hockey Wilderness
Game Preview
After Tuesday’s chippy affair at home to the New Jersey Devils, it’s a miracle some of the Detroit Red Wings are even walking. Jack Hughes delivered a nasty knee-on-knee to Robby Fabbri that forced him from the game. Meanwhile, in retribution for the Hughes hit, Tyler Bertuzzi took exception and rung Hughes’ bell with a bone-jarring collision.
Tyler Bertuzzi lays the boom on Jack Hughes#LGRW #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/FFdNuOZ6kr
— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) February 26, 2020
The result? Bertuzzi felt the brunt of a John Hayden cross-check to the mouth and of course, George Parros simply slapped him with a fine. What else is new?
#NJDevils John Hayden cross-checks #LGRW Tyler Bertuzzi.
Should be hearing from DoPS tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/KutkxaCB9Z— Here’s Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) February 26, 2020
Fabbri is likely to miss some time with a knee injury (although we will fill you in on the gameday updates this afternoon). After being acquired at Monday’s trade deadline, it looks like Sam Gagner is set to make his Red Wings debut. However, Dmytro Timashov, is still working out some visa issues after being claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Will the Wings be forced to play with 11 forwards again tonight? We shall see.
As February comes to a close, the Wings find themselves last in the NHL with a 15-46-4 record and welcome the Minnesota Wild (30-25-7) for tonight’s game. The Wild are very much still in the Western Conference wild card race — three points back of the final playoff spot — and are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.
Dylan Larkin has been the Wings’ hottest player of late, chipping in six points in his last five games, while the Wild have been getting an uptick in offensive production from a pair of defensemen — Jared Spurgeon has three goals and Ryan Suter has three assists in the last five contests.
These two teams have met 60 times in their franchise histories and the Wings lead the all-time series 37-14-3-6.
