x

Already member? Login first!

Comments / New

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Detroit Red Wings: Game Day Updates, Lineups, Keys to the Game

Red Wings Lines and Updates

Bertuzzi – Larkin – Fabbri
Athanasiou – Filppula – Glendening
Helm – Nielsen – Zadina
Perlini – Ehn – Erne

Nemeth – Hronek
Cholowski – Green
Ericsson – McIlrath

Bernier
Comrie

Penguins Lines and Updates

Guentzel – Malkin – Rust
Kahun – McCann – Noesen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – Tanev
Galchenyuk – Lafferty – Simon

Marino – Letang
Petersson – Schultz
Riikola – Trotman

Murray
Jarry

Three Keys to the Game

Full disclosure, I asked my wife yesterday what the three keys of the game should be today, because how can we reduce the keys to the game to just three these days? It’s really tough and I needed a little extra help. But I stand by these opinions for tonight. If the Red Wings have these three things then its a guaranteed trip to Win-City.

  1. Mullets. I remember fondly in college when I got on the bus for a championship cross country meet and two of my teammates had mohawks. I thought it was dumb at the time because, gundammit, I wanted to win and didn’t have the time for silly antics, but for the two of them it was fun and helped them focus in their own way. Now I’m not advocating for the Wings to actually all have mullets (or am I?) but it wouldn’t hurt if they all wore team-matching spiritual-mullets out there tonight to bring some joy to the ice. They haven’t looked like they’ve had fun in a very long time; when Larkin is sad, I’m sad, and I don’t want to be sad watching this game tonight.
  2. Crossovers. Turning around and back checking is real important. Can’t do that without crossovers! Seriously, the number of odd-man rushes against the Wings still make my stomach flip, even as I practice every sort of mental self-care exercise I know to not get angripointed every game. The Wings need to make sure they get turned around and have the back door covered, because teams know they can exploit the Wings this way and Pittsburgh has a couple really good players you may have heard of who pass the puck beautifully and can burn Detroit in this regard. Or, if that doesn’t work, maybe we can get some sort of win, any type. Maybe Hronek wins a crossover they raffle off between the second and third period tonight.
  3. Butts. Don’t make yourselves into one tonight, Red Wings. Especially with the news out of Darren McCarty over at the freep today. Just win the damn game with no excuses. If there is one thing this Red Wings team leads the league in, its not making apologies for itself, but still. Everyone obviously wants a win, but the Red Wings also haven’t been this desperate for a win in many years. Do it for ‘09.
Winging It In Motown Logo
If you enjoyed this article please consider supporting Winging It In Motown by subscribing here, or purchasing our merchandise here.

Looking for an easy way to support Winging It In Motown? Use our Affiliate Link when shopping hockey merch.

Talking Points