Updates

Coach gives some injury updates and talks about tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. #PITvsDET #LGRW pic.twitter.com/wdhkzR9qBQ

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 2, 2019

From Red Wings' locker room this morning after Jeff Blashill's extension became official: "Everyone in here respects him and he respects everyone. We’re happy to have him back." https://t.co/wuEck1EUej

— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) April 2, 2019

#RedWings Blashill: Nielsen’s done for the year. Vanek, he’d still like to play but it’s a pain tolerance deal. I just can’t answer that today. Obviously, we’re running out of time, though.

— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) April 2, 2019

#RedWings Blashill: I would classify Glenny as extremely close to being out for the rest of the year. I don’t want to say that 100 percent. And then Bernier totally day to day. We’ll see tomorrow if it’s way better than today.

— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) April 2, 2019

Lineups

DETROIT

Tyler Bertuzzi - Dylan Larkin - Anthony Mantha
Taro Hirose - Andreas Athanasiou - Darren Helm
Ryan Kuffner - Christoffer Ehn - Martin Frk
Matt Puempel - Dominic Turgeon

Niklas Kronwall - Filip Hronek
Joe Hicketts - Madison Bowey
Jake Chelios - Dylan McIlrath
Luke Witkowski

Jimmy Howard
Kaden Fulcher

PITTSBURGH

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jared McCann - Teddy Blueger - Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon - Nick Bjugstad - Patric Hornqvist
Adam Johnson - Matt Cullen - Garrett Wilson

Olli Maatta - Brian Dumoulin
Jack Johnson - Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Gudbrandson

Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith

Keys to the Game

Keep the Top Line Train Chugging Along

Last game against Boston the Red Wings top line of Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha outplayed, outpointed and for the most part outmatched the Bruins top line and the score sheet showed it. Tonight they have a task every bit as difficult, if not more so, with the Penguins and Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust.

Keep the Rough Stuff Cautiously Aggressive

Lead mainly by Luke Witkowski and Dylan McIlrath, the Red Wings have played much more aggressive physically over the winning streak. Having laid out some serious hits (even if one was to their own team…get well Frans) that I am not sure the uptick in aggression on the forecheck by the forwards is completely unrelated. They do need to be careful not to get too far out of control though and push the envelope to the realm where someone gets injured on a very marginal at best hit.

Convince Everyone the Second Period Does Not Exist

The dreaded second period curse hit the Red Wings again last night. For some reason the middle stanza continues to be the worst for the boys in red as they came in with a 2-0 lead and left down 3-2. They seem to have figured out how to start on time more consistently and this team simply does not quit so the third period is ok as well. But for some reason the second haunts them and with a team that has the firepower that Pittsburgh does that could be all they need to put the game out of reach before the last 20 minutes even starts. The Red Wings need to figure out how to even out their effort over all 60 minutes if they are going to win their sixth game in a row tonight.