Updates
Mike Babcock said he lobbied the Red Wings to retire Red Kelly’s No. 4 when he was with the team.
Babcock was college teammates and friends with Kelly’s son. pic.twitter.com/cxtN4oscTD
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) February 1, 2019
#RedWings Howard in starter’s net. Hosting #MapleLeafs tonight. Red Kelly’s No. 4 will be retired tonight, ceremony starting at 7 pm. pic.twitter.com/ExMZiFo7lc
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) February 1, 2019
Signage lit at Little Caesars Arena for Red Kelly Night and the retirement of his number 4 tonight here in Detroit. We’ll carry the ceremony live on FSD at7 tonight. pic.twitter.com/uv2fOoBkIs
— John Keating (@JohnKeatingFSD) February 1, 2019
Lineups
DETROIT
Justin Abdelkader – Dylan Larkin – Gustav Nyquist
Thomas Vanek – Frans Nielsen – Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou – Luke Glendening – Darren Helm
Christoffer Ehn – Jacob de la Rose – Martin Frk
Danny DeKeyser – Nick Jensen
Jonathan Ericsson – Dennis Cholowski
Niklas Kronwall – Mike Green
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
TORONTO
Patrick Marleau – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner
Zach Hyman – John Tavares – Kasperi Kapanen
Connor Brown – Nazem Kadri – William Nylander
Par Lindholm – Frederik Gauthier – Andreas Johnsson
Jake Muzzin – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott – Ron Hainsey
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Keys to the Game
Score Goals
I said it the last time they played the Leafs and I will probably say it the net time to. If the Red Wings are going to have a chance at beating the Leafs tonight they are going to have to score some goals. That also means they are going to have to find a way to get the puck into the offensive zone and keep it there.
Control Rested Angst
They have not played a meaningful hockey game in eight days and their first game back is against a heated rival. That said, the Red Wings will need to control that energy level and not let the new found freshness to their legs get them into trouble spots where they over pursue a play and end up having to take a dumb penalty or give up a really good scoring chance.
The Goalies
It is a bit off a cliché, but the team with the better goalie generally wins. Andersen has had a very good first half to his season as has Red Wings All Star Jimmy Howard. Jimmy is going to have to stand out above Andersen tonight for the Red Wings to have a shot because the defense in front of him simply is not as good as the one in front of Andersen so he is definitely going to be tested early and often in this one.
