‘Twas an optional skate for the Wings today in LA. No surprise there since it’s a back-to-back. Still no word on Kyle Quincey or Drew Miller’s status. Jimmy Howard gets the start. We’ll update as any news breaks.
UPDATE: Quincey is playing & Miller is out.
Kyle Quincey confirms he is playing tonight. #redwings
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 11, 2016
Miller (lower body) out with Andersson likely going in…Kindl definitely on his way to GR
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) January 11, 2016
Line Combinations
Red Wings Lineup
Forwards
| Gus Nyquist | Henrik Zetterberg | Justin Abdelkader |
| Darren Helm | Pavel Datsyuk | Tomas Tatar |
| Brad Richards | Riley Sheahan | Dylan Larkin |
| Joakim Andersson | Luke Glendening | Tomas Jurco |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Alexey Marchenko |
| Kyle Quincey | Mike Green |
Goaltenders
| Jimmy Howard |
| Petr Mrazek |
Scratches: Brendan Smith?
Injuries: Johan Franzen, Drew Miller, Teemu Pulkkinen
Kings Lineup
Forwards
| Milan Lucic | Anze Kopitar | Tyler Toffoli |
| Tanner Pearson | Jeff Carter | Marian Gaborik |
| Dwight King | Trevor Lewis | Dustin Brown |
| Michael Mersch | Vincent Lecavalier | Jordan Nolan |
Defensemen
| Brayden McNabb | Drew Doughty |
| Jake Muzzin | Alec Martinez |
| Luke Schenn | Christian Ehrhoff |
Goaltenders
| Jonathan Quick |
| Jhonas Enroth |
Fun Facts!
Red Wings all-time record against Los Angeles: 86-80-27-2 (W-L-T-OTL)
Red Wings goals for per game (GF/G) against the Kings: 3.46
Red Wings goals against per game (GA/G) against the Kings: 3.47
Key Matchups
Jimmy Howard vs the puck
Howard has been pulled in his last two starts. In fact, he’s allowed 7 goals on the last 20 shots against him. A real solid .650 save percentage. Pretty sure that’s really freakin’ bad. Let’s face it, there’s no question Petr Mrazek has taken the starting job and run with it. Howard is your back-up goaltender and you need to be able to count on your back up for a strong start every now-and-then. Well now is tonight. Howard is 10-6-0 all-time against the Kings with a 2.38 GAA and .926 SV%.
Whatever Red Wings line gets matched up against Anze Kopitar
We’ll see if Darryl Sutter deploys Kopitar and his line against Datsyuk or Zetterberg’s line. My guess would be the Datsyuk line, but we’ll find out at game time. Kopitar is one of the best two-way players in the game today. He’s the west coast version of Patrice Bergeron (probably not as good though, but still damn good). He’s also go Tyler Toffoli and Milan Lucic on his wings. Toffoli is tied with Kopitar for the team lead in points and has a team high 19 goals. Lucic is Lucic. He’s having a decent offensive season. He’s going to be physical and possibly do something stupid. Hope everyone wears their cup.
