Lightning at Red Wings preview: No rest for the weary in Motown
The Bolts have a quick turnaround in Detroit after leaving Brooklyn last night.
Lightning at Red Wings: Game 17
Time: 7:30 pm Eastern Time
Location: Joe Louis Arena
Broadcast/Streaming: NBC-SN, FS-D
Opponent SBNation Site: Winging It in Motown
The Lightning are right back at it tonight after their dominating, should-have-won 4-0 shutout over the free-falling Islanders. The Red Wings, meanwhile, are well-rested since Saturday’s game... actually, they’ve been rested even before that game since it didn’t seem like anyone really bothered to show up for that 5-0 loss against the Canadiens.
Last night, the Lightning ended their season series with the Islanders. They won all three games against the Isles this season. They’ve been rolling over the Isles since the second-round playoff series last season, and with the Wings tonight, they’re in a similar position. The Bolts have eliminated the Wings in the last two playoff rounds — and they opened this season with a 6-4 win.
The Lightning need to continue their scoring ways against a team struggling to get the puck behind the net. Consider the Wings’ offensive woes, courtesy of MLive’s Brendan Savage:
- Riley Sheahan, no goals this season
- Mike Green, 13 games without a goal since his Oct. 17
- Darren Helm, 11 games without a goal
- Gustav Nyquist, 10 games without a goal
- Drew Miller and Frans Nielsen, eight games without a goal
- Tomas Tatar, one goal in his last 11 games
- Luke Glendening, one goal in 16 games/
As a whole, the Red Wings have...
- Scored 15 goals in their last eight game
- Been shut out twice
- A 1-5 record against divisional opponents /
Yikes. This is second of five games between the Red Wings and Lightning. Petr Mrazek will start in net for the Wings, MLive reported, and Ben Bishop will most likely get the start since Andrei Vasilevskiy played last night. The Red Wings will be without defenseman Niklas Kronwall (knee). Defenseman Anton Stralman remains out for the Bolts.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forward Lines
Vladislav Namestnikov - Steven Stamkos - Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat - Tyler Johnson - Alex Killorn
Brayden Point - Valtteri Filppula - Ryan Callahan
Brian Boyle - Cedric Paquette - J.T. Brown
Defence Pairings
Victor Hedman - Andrej Sustr
Nikita Nesterov - Jason Garrison
Slater Koekkoek - Braydon Coburn
Goaltenders
Ben Bishop
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Detroit Red Wings
Forward Lines
Justin Abdelkader - Henrik Zetterberg - Tomas Tatar
Dylan Larkin - Frans Nielsen - Luke Glendening
Gustav Nyquist - Darren Helm - Anthony Mantha
Drew Miller - Riley Sheahan - Tyler Bertuzzi/Steve Ott
Defence Pairings
Danny DeKeyser - Mike Green
Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith
Jonathan Ericsson - Alexei Marchenko
Goaltenders
Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard
Line information will be updated in the Game Day Thread.
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