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Senators at Red Wings: GDU, Lineups, Keys to the Game

Posted on by Joshua Pickering

Game Day Updates

Lineups

Detroit

Forwards

Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin – Anthony Mantha
Robby Fabbri – Valtteri Filppula – Andreas Athanasiou
Taro Hirose – Frans Nielsen – Brendan Perlini
Darren Helm – Luke Glendening – Adam Erne

Defense

Dennis Cholowski – Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson – Madison Bowey
Alex Biega – Dylan McIlrath

Goalies

Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard

Ottawa

Forwards

Nick Paul – Jean-Gabriel Pageau – Connor Brown
Brady Tkachuk – Logan Brown – Anthony Duclair
Vladislav Namestnikov – Colin White – Tyler Ennis
Filip Chlapik – Chris Tierney – Bobby Ryan

Defense

Thomas Chabot – Nikita Zaitsev
Erik Brannstrom – Ron Hainsey
Mark Borowiecki – Dylan DeMelo

Goalies

Anders Nilsson
Craig Anderson

Keys to the Game

1.  Ride the West Coast Momentum

The Red Wings have been playing well of late including their trip through California. Where they have really improved is how they respond when getting behind. The Wings need to continue to carry that swagger and ability to respond to tough bounces to keep themselves competitive in games. The Wings are riding a bit of a hot streak having not lost in regulation in their last five games. They’ll want to push this success for as long as they can as they likely won’t be able to string together stretches like this very often this season. The team won’t lack motivation in this one as they look to avenge a 5-2 loss to Ottawa last month.

2. Continue to Get Goal Support

The Red Wings are finally getting production from behind the top trio of Bertuzzi, Larkin, and Mantha. The new second line of Athanasiou, Filppula, and Fabbri is getting on track the last few games since Fabbri joined the lineup. The Wings have been in a lot of close games, usually separated by a goal either way. The key to keeping this game close will be continuing production from the top six. To put them over the top, it would be helpful to get some output from the bottom six. Hirose finally got rid of the goose egg in his goal column in his return to the lineup last game. Perlini earned his first point as a Red Wing with an assist on the goal. If the 3rd line featuring these two and the currently pointless Nielsen can get at least slightly on track it’ll ease the burden on the top line. If this line can get a goal in this contest, the odds are high the Wings can take a win on home ice.

3. Patchwork Defense Continue to Overachieve

On that road trip featuring overtime in all three games, Detroit held their opponents to 27, 31, and 19 shots. That is while the team rosters a defense missing several regulars including Danny DeKeyser, Filip Hronek, Mike Green, Patrik Nemeth, and Trevor Daley. This has led to callups including Dylan McIlrath and Jonathan Ericsson. Despite being seemingly well-overmatched this group has punched way above their weight in keeping opponent opportunities reasonably limited. While this group will gladly welcome back the regulars when they are ready, the current pairings will need to continue playing well to keep the game within reach for the improving scoring up front.

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