Red Wings at Oilers: Gameday Updates, Line Combinations, Key Match-ups
Line Combinations
Red Wings Lineup (maybe.)
Forwards
| Justin Abdelkader | Henrik Zetterberg | Dylan Larkin |
| Tomas Tatar | Riley Sheahan | Gustav Nyquist |
| Darren Helm | Brad Richards | Teemu Pulkkinen |
| Drew Miller | Luke Glendening | Landon Ferraro |
Defensemen
| Niklas Kronwall | Jonathan Ericsson |
| Danny DeKeyser | Mike Green |
| Kyle Quincey | Jakub Kindl |
Goaltenders
| Petr Mrazek (starting) |
| Jimmy Howard |
Scratches: Brendan Smith, Joakim Andersson, Tomas Jurco
Injuries: Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk
The Expected Oilers Lineup
Forwards
| Taylor Hall | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | Andrew Miller |
| Benoi Pouliot | Connor McDavid | Nail Yakupov |
| Lauri Korpikoski | Anton Lander | Teddy Purcell |
| Anton Slepyshev | Mark Letestu | Rob Klinkhamer |
Defensemen
| Oscar Klefbom | Justin Schultz |
| Andrej Sekera | Mark Fayne |
| Andrew Ference | Eric Gryba |
Goaltenders
| Cam Talbot (starting) |
| Anders Nilsson |
Scratches: Luke Gazdic, Brandon Davidson, Griffin Reinhart
Updates from the morning skate include Andrew Miller on the top line instead of Slepyshev, who goes to the fourth line over Dazdic and Andrew Ference in with Gryba for a banged-up Griffin Reinhart
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Fun facts!
Red Wings all-time record against Edmonton: 63-36-13-11
Red Wings goals for per game (GF/G) against Edmonton: 3.65
Red Wings goals against per game (GA/G) against Edmonton: 3.24
Data provided by hockeyreference.com
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Players to Watch:
For Detroit:
Tomas Tatar
Five shots in five games so far and no goals, but Tatar is showing signs of getting ready to break into the scoring column. The Wings need more depth scoring and he's going to be a big key to making that happen. Tatar sometimes falls into the habit of demanding one more stickhandle when he should be putting it on net. If he can simplify a bit while keeping his uptempo play going, he should find success soon.
For Edmonton:
Connor McDavid
Who the hell else would I use here? The kid is good. He's real good. He's absolutely worth the #1 overall pick the Oilers used on him. Good for him.
Key Match-ups:
Dylan Larkin vs. Connor McDavid.
Our guy is still just a dark horse candidate in terms of rookie of the year consideration and he's up against the kid who's starting to find his stride. They may not play much against one another head-to-head, but it's a fun storyline to track and one that I honestly do think Larkin's got a good shot on any given night to come out ahead on.
Defense vs. Defense.
Neither team has an awe-inspiring blueline corps and it's pretty well expected there are going to be a lot of mistakes between these two squads while the scoring forwards look to exploit those weaknesses. This game very much could come down to a battle of which team makes fewer boneheaded mistakes and the blue line is the front line on that battle.