Quick Strikes for Tuesday, April 12th

• A match-up of…uh…interesting proportions? The “slumping” Detroit Red Wings and the “banged-up” Tampa Bay Lightning are (sort of?) ready for a first-round rematch. [Today’s Slap Shot]
• Tampa Bay’s breakouts vs. Detroit’s forecheck. [Winging it Motown]
• Speaking of round one, Lightning and Red Wings fans better be prepared for a repeat of old story lines, among other things. (Did you know the affiliates of these two teams faced off in the AHL Calder Cup Final in 2013? You did? Oh.) [Sports Talk Florida]
• Chad from Bolt Prospects also previewed the upcoming battle via a podcast out of Detroit. [Hockeytown Buzz]
• Beat writer Lindsay Kramer has a rather bleak take on the Syracuse Crunch’s lack of a post season yet again. [Syracuse.com]
• Lightning prospect Jonne Tammela has joined the Crunch, and will hopefully get into a game or two this weekend. [Bolt Prospects]
• Syracuse is a little banged up at the moment:

Zettler said Dotchin and Erne are both day to day with upper body injuries.

— Jeremy Houghtaling (@JGHoughtaling) April 11, 2016

• Want to own a part of Lightning prospect history? The Crunch’s gameworn jersey auction is going on now! [Syracuse Crunch]
• Looking to build up your Crunch merch before next season? The AHL Store is offering a sale:

Not only do our fans deserve major #StickTaps, they deserve 15% off their order when they shop at https://t.co/w1EmZPJ5GI! Promo Code:THANKS

— ahlstore.com (@ahlstore) April 11, 2016

• The AHL playoff race heads into final week…without Syracuse (in fact, they’re not even mentioned). [Today’s Slap Shot]
• The Crunch is stuck in slot 20 in this week’s AHL playoff rankings with three games to go. [Chirps from Center Ice]
• Where might all 16 NHL playoff teams rank? [CBS Sports]
• Patrick Kane, Alex Ovechkin, Frederik Andersen and John Gibson have all captured 2015-16 regular-season trophies. [The Pink Puck]
• Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien isn’t to blame for Boston missing the playoffs. [The Hockey News]
• The Winnipeg Jets have signed prospect Kyle Connor. [Arctic Ice Hockey]
• The Arizona Coyotes are betting everything on Dave Tippett. [Five for Howling]
• The New York Yankees and the Tampa Sports Authority have agreed to a $40 million renovation of Steinbrenner Field. [Tampa Bay Times]
• The City of Tampa was “a smashing success” hosting the Frozen Four this past weekend. [BC Interruption]
• The recently-crowned national champion University of North Dakota men’s hockey team was ranked No. 1 in the final installments of both national polls released on Monday afternoon. [University of North Dakota]
• The NWHL has released a promo for the documentary they’re producing:

How do you take your coffee?