Gameday Updates
Optional morning skate for Red Wings here at Pepsi Center. pic.twitter.com/LSCmY1jSOI
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) March 5, 2019
It looks like the Wings will be without Mike Green on the blueline for an extended period of time…
Blashill says Mike Green (virus) out, early estimate is 7-10 days. #redwings
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) March 5, 2019
As one veteran leaves the lineup, another is hoping to make his way back soon…
#RedWings Daley skating again, could play tonight vs #Avalanche. pic.twitter.com/u3B92ZzADa
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) March 5, 2019
News from the other end of the bench as Ian Cole should be good to play tonight for the Avalanche after Sunday’s nasty collision.
There will be no hearing for Ian Cole for his knee on Devin Shore yesterday, a source tells @BSNDenver. He escapes punishment
— Adrian Dater (@adater) March 4, 2019
Projected Lineups
Red Wings Lines
#RedWings in practice:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Mantha
Glendening-Athanasiou-Zadina
Helm-Nielsen-Vanek
Abdelkader-de la Rose-RasmussenKronwall-Green
DeKeyser-Hronek
Ericsson-Bowey
Daley-Witkowski— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) March 4, 2019
Considering Green will be out for at least a week, Daley is probably the favourite to factor into tonight’s lineup as long as he doesn’t have a setback from the morning skate.
Bernier starting tonight.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) March 5, 2019
Avalanche Lines
Alexander Kerfoot — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog — Tyson Jost — Matt Calvert
Derick Brassard — Carl Soderberg — JT Compher
Sven Andrighetto — Sheldon Dries — Colin Wilson
Samuel Girard — Erik Johnson
Ian Cole — Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth — Nikita Zadorov
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Keys to the Game
Stop Being Predictable
This one is directed at Jeff Blashill. Yesterday’s lines at practice had Wings fans extremely frustrated, and for good reason. Seeing Luke Glendening up on that second line made me cringe. Why not put Michael Rasmussen with Andreas Athanasiou and Filip Zadina? Let the kid play with a pair of creative linemates and see what happens, rather than shoving him out on the grind line in limited minutes. At this point, you would have been better off sending him to junior a couple weeks ago, making him eligible for the AHL playoffs. At least he would have got some quality playing time.
Skate, Skate, Skate
In order to keep up with the Avs, the Wings will need to use their one strength — their legs. It might not be the most skilled lineup (thanks in part to Blashill’s lack of creativity), but they have the horses that can skate up and down this lineup. When you look at the other bench, players like MacKinnon and Rantanen can certainly create headaches for you defensively — both have combined for 164 points this season — and they do so with their speed. If the Wings find a way to shut down this dynamic duo, it would go a long way towards coming out on top.
