Updates
#RedWings Howard in starter’s net, #TBLightning in town tonight. pic.twitter.com/eWVKeQ7v79
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) March 14, 2019
#RedWings power play units:
1. Rasmussen (net front), Bertuzzi (slot), Athanasiou and Mantha (half walls), Hronek (point).
2. Vanek (net front), Abdelkader (slot), Nielsen and Zadina (half walls), Kronwall (point).— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) March 14, 2019
Larkin in the ice today…Ken Holland (who is sitting with Henrik Zetterberg watching morning skate) says Larkin is shooting for Saturday return
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) March 14, 2019
A couple #RedWings number updates it seems: Taro Hirose listed as No. 53 and Ryan Kuffner listed as No. 56 on the Detroit roster.
— Stefan Kubus (@StefanKubus) March 14, 2019
Lineups
DETROIT
Tyler Bertuzzi – Andreas Athanasiou – Anthony Mantha
Thomas Vanek – Frans Nielsen – Filip Zadina
Justin Abdelkader – Luke Glendening – Darren Helm
Michael Rasmussen – Jacob de la Rose – Christoffer Ehn
Danny DeKeyser – Filip Hronek
Niklas Kronwall – Trevor Daley
Madison Bowey – Luke Witkowski
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
TAMPA BAY
Ondrej Palat – Steven Stamkos – JT Miller
Tyler Johnson – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Mathieu Joseph
Adam Erne – Cedric Paquette – Yanni Gourde
Victor Hedman – Anton Stralman
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Braydon Coburn – Mikhail Sergachev
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Keys to the Game
Get Zadina Involved
Filip Zadina has not played terribly in his first eight NHL games. Unless the Red Wings, for some weird reason, elect to burn a year off his Entry Level Contract tonight will be his last game with the team before he rejoins the Grand Rapids Griffins for their playoff push. As such, for no other reason than because they are so thin on offensive talent right now, why not feed the kid and see what he can do. They are going to need the offense to even have a chance at beating the Lightning so let him log as many minutes as his conditioning will allow and see what he can do.
Someone Steps Up in Larkin’s Absence
Pretty sure this has been said in some form or fashion in every game day write up since Larkin was injured. Someone has got to step up and be the leader of this team in the absence of its leader. There are so many little things to Larkin’s game that go unnoticed on the stat sheet/highlights but are clearly missing when he is not there. He is the engine that makes this team go and with this absence we are all seeing just how important he really is. If he is this generation’s Yzerman than someone needs to start showing they can be this generation’s Fedorov, Shanahan…heck at this point I will take a Draper or McCarty clone.
Don’t Ask the Goalie to Steal the Game
Last time against Tampa an unwise decision by Athanasiou left Kucherov alone in front of Red Wings net and the result was as expected. They need to play spirited and aggressive, but they need to do it in a smart way. Early in the season when the Wings were coming back on teams and winning games in the third period, Jimmy Howard often stood on his head against an onslaught of rubber to keep them in games early. He did so often enough that he earned an All-Star nod. It appears all that work took its toll on the 34-year-old netminder so it is up to the forwards and embattled defensemen to play a little smarter in their own end and not ask so much of the goalie…especially against an offensive juggernaut like the Lightning.
