Lightning at Red Wings Preview and GDT:

Game #47
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Little Caesars Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: BSSUN, BSDET, TVAS, ESPN+, Hulu

Opponent’s Site: Winging it in Motown

Preview

Since the calendar has flipped to 2024, two of the better teams in the NHL have been the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Detroit Red Wings. They face off tonight (please note the updated 7:00 PM starting time) in a somewhat surprising battle for early playoff positioning. The Lightning are currently sitting in third place in the Atlantic with 53 points in 46 games. The Red Wings are in the second wild card spot with 51 points in 45 games. Not too shabby for a team that didn’t have a ton of expectations this year.

In the new year, the Lightning have gone 6-2-0 with a 3.88 GF/GP and 2.75 GA/GP. They are converting power plays at a crisp 37.5% while killing off 88% of the penalties against them. The Wings have been just slightly better in the points department by going 6-1-1 with a 3.38 GF/GP and identical 2.75 GA/GP. Their special teams is slightly worse than the Bolts as they are 26.1% on the power play and 79.0% on the penalty kill, still respectable numbers.

Much like Tampa Bay, Detroit is doing this with a slightly beat-up roster. Their number one goalie, Ville Husso, is on injured reserve, while their top free free agent pick-up, Patrick Kane, has been out of the line-up since January 14th. While it is a lower-body injury, the team claims that it is not related to the hip-resurfacing surgery Kane had in the off-season. The first-year Red Wing had been a boost to the team since he signed with them, posting 16 points (7 goals, 9 assists) in 19 games this season.

In previous years, losing a point-producer like Kane might have sunk the Red Wings, but they have a decent spread of offense. In January, Dylan Larkin has put up 9 points (5 goals, 4 assists) in 8 games. They’ve also received help from some unexpected players as Robby Fabbri has 4 goals and Daniel Sprong has 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists). Alex DeBrincat has been strangely quiet with just 2 assists in 8 games.

Bolts fans might remember that it was Larkin, DeBrincat, and Lucas Raymond that had a field day in the first meeting between the two teams back in October, a 6-4 win for the Red Wings. The trio combined for 20 shot attempts, 8 scoring chances and 3 goals in the meeting. It appears that line has been broken up with DeBrincat dropping to the second line and veteran David Perron taking his spot.

After a fairly strong defensive performance against the Sabres, the Lightning will be looking to do the same against a young, fast Red Wings team.

Stats Match-up

Lines

Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lines

Forwards
Steven Stamkos – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nick Paul
Mikey Eyssimont – Tyler Motte – Conor Sheary

Austin Watson – Luke Glendening – Waltteri Merela

Defenders
Victor Hedman – Darren Raddysh
Calvin de Haan – Nick Perbix
Emil Lilleberg – Max Crozier

Goalies
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Jonas Johansson

Detroit Red Wings Projected Lines

Forwards
David Perron – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond

Robby Fabbri – J.T. Compher – Alex DeBrincat

Michael Rasmussen – Andrew Copp – Christian Fischer

Daniel Sprong – Joe Veleno – Klim Kostin

Defenders

Jake Walman – Moritz Seider

Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry

Olli Maatta – Shayne Gostisbehere

Goalies

Alex Lyon

James Reimer

Question of the Night

Can Nikita Kucherov jump back into the points lead?