Gameday Updates
Mike Green will return to action tonight for the Red Wings…
#RedWings Green: “Today was great, so I’ll play tomorrow.”
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) January 10, 2019
His right-handed shot should give their powerplay a boost as he slot back into the top unit.
On the other end of the rink, the Jets are coming off a 3-2 loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild last night. It looks like Laurent Brossoit will get the start against the Wings — his last start was Dec. 22 where he stopped all 40 shots on the way to a 1-0 shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks.
No morning skate for the Winnipeg Jets today. Brossoit is expected to start tonight against Detroit.
— Murat Ates (@WPGMurat) January 11, 2019
Projected Lineups
Detroit Red Wings
These were the lines at yesterday’s practice — the forwards remain the same — and of course, Green will push Luke Witkowski out of the lineup.
#RedWings practice lines same as previous game:
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Nyquist
Vanek-Nielsen-Mantha
Helm-Glendening-Athanasiou
Abdelkader-de la Rose-Ehn
Frk (extra), Rasmussen (injury) out.
Defense:
Kronwall-Jensen
Ericsson-Hronek
Cholowski-Witkowski
Injured Green and DeKeyser skating pic.twitter.com/3oA61JrBGm— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 10, 2019
The new defensive pairings will look like this…
Dennis Cholowski — Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson — Filip Hronek
Niklas Kronwall — Nick Jensen
Looks like Howard will get the Wild tomorrow:
#RedWings Bernier first goalie off.
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) January 11, 2019
Winnipeg Jets
Forwards
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine — Bryan Little — Jack Roslovic
Mathieu Perreault — Adam Lowry — Brandon Tanev
Brendan Lemieux — Andrew Copp — Mason Appleton
Defense
Josh Morrissey — Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot — Tyler Myers
Dmitry Kulikov — Joe Morrow
Goalies
Laurent Brossoit
Connor Hellebuyck
Keys to the Game
Aggressive Defense
With Green set to return to the lineup the Wings should take advantage of his offensive-minded style. This is a team desperate for a win right now with just five of them since Dec. 1 and to keep up with the high-octane offense of the Jets, they will need to take some chances. Be smart about pinching at the blueline and try to help the forward group drive the offensive play in this game — aggressive over conservative.
Sprint out of the Gate
The Wings are 1-3-0 in January and have been outscored 15-10 in that span. They’ve only played with the lead once, blowing a 2-0 lead to the Calgary Flames in a 5-3 loss on Jan. 2. It’s important to play with the lead in this one as the Jets can strike quick with a potent offense. The key will be limiting their top line’s chances as both Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler have 50-plus points.
