No skate today so we get factoids and tidbits instead!
On this date in 1973, Mickey Redmond became the first player in #RedWings history to reach 50 goals in a season
— Jen (@NHLhistorygirl) March 27, 2018
Pretty smart for the @DetroitRedWings to call up Hicketts for the best day of the year. #NationalJoeDay #LGRW @wingingitmotown pic.twitter.com/HRV9a9TaEb
— Jay T. (@TheRoar_24) March 27, 2018
Detroit Red Wings
Tyler Bertuzzi — Henrik Zetterberg — Gustav Nyquist
Darren Helm — Dylan Larkin — Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou — Frans Nielsen — Justin Abdelkader
Martin Frk — Luke Glendening — Evgeny Svechnikov
Jonathan Ericsson — Trevor Daley
Danny DeKeyser — Nick Jensen
Niklas Kronwall — Joe Hicketts
Jimmy Howard
Jared Coreau
Pittsburgh Penguins
Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Patrick Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Conor Sheary – Derick Brassard – Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl – Riley Sheahan – Dominik Simon
Jamie Oleskiak – Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin – Justin Schultz
Olli Maatta – Chad Ruhwedel
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Keys to the Game
Find a reason
Being eliminated from playoff contention with a handful of games left, the Wings have to decide what will motivate them to sprint to the finish line. Pride is a big one, there have been humiliating defeats this season and a whole bunch of “I thought we played well but… [sigh]” style losses, and this is their last chance to find any pinches of glitter they can sprinkle on this flaming diaper pile of a season.
Pettiness is also nice motivation, although probably more for fans. If you can’t be winners, you can be spoilers and ruin someone else’s day.
Pest Control
Last night we saw Lil Bert (rightfully) take exception to Hank getting his legs taken out with a low hit, and with 3 minutes to go in the game that was the end of his night. Sad to say we’ll probably need that GRIT factor tonight. Every time we play the Pens things get scrappy, and having Professional Pests like Lil Bert and LGD getting in the way always makes for good entertainment.
I recall LGD really driving Crosby bonkers one game when his on-ice assignment was apparently to get in Crosby’s way 100% of the time. You could see LGD giving his signature sunshine smile slightly tinged with mania the entire game and how cranky Sid was getting about it.
With that Elite Shutdown Specialist Duo, what could go wrong?
ManthaMania?
Mantha hasn’t scored since March 6th, and only has 2 points in his last 10 games. Unless he goes wild he won’t be hitting the 30 goal mark this year, but who says he won’t go wild? 7 goals in 6 games, it could happen. He’s been taking plenty of shots, but hasn’t gotten a good bounce to break the drought and get him going (he just hit the crossbar as I was typing this).
AA is also due, but he hasn’t had as many “arghhh, almost!” moments as Mantha recently.
Let’s Go Red Wings!
