GAME DAY: Red Wings host Bruins looking for first win since COVID break (1:00 p.m. ET, BSDET)

The Detroit Red Wings will look to ring in 2022 in style on Sunday when they host the Boston Bruins for a matinee contest at Little Caesars Arena.

Detroit is coming off a heartbreaking 3–1 loss to the Washington Capitals on New Years’ Eve, a game in which living legend @Alex Ovechkin became the National Hockey League’s all-time leader in power-play goals.

@Pius Suter opened the scoring for Detroit on Friday before the Capitals stormed back with three unanswered goals of their own. @Thomas Greiss allowed two goals on 26 shots in the loss, bringing him down to 6–7–0 with an .895 save percentage on the season.

Sunday’s game will finish off a back-to-back set for Boston, which came back from a 3–1 deficit to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4–3 in overtime on New Years’ Day. @Nick Foligno and @Taylor Hall kicked off the rally in the third period before @Charlie Coyle topped it off with the overtime winner.

This will be the third of four meetings this season between the Bruins and Red Wings. Detroit fell by a 5–1 score in Boston on Nov. 4 before rebounding to defeat the Bruins 2–1 in the same building on Nov. 30. @Marc Staal scored the game-winner for Detroit in the latter contest, with @Alex Nedeljkovic making 41 saves in the victory.

Detroit went with these lines in Friday’s 3–1 loss to Washington:

@Tyler Bertuzzi – @Dylan Larkin – @Lucas Raymond
@Robby Fabbri – @Pius Suter – @Vladislav Namestnikov
@Adam Erne – @Michael Rasmussen – @Filip Zadina
@Joe Veleno – @Carter Rowney – @Sam Gagner

Danny DeKeyser – @Moritz Seider
@Marc Staal – @Filip Hronek
@Jordan Oesterle – @Gustav Lindstrom

@Alex Nedeljkovic (9–7–3, .916 SV%) is likely to start against the Bruins.

Boston deployed these combinations on New Years’ Day:

@Brad Marchand – @Patrice Bergeron – @Craig Smith
@Taylor Hall – @Erik Haula – @David Pastrnak
@Jake DeBrusk – @Charlie Coyle – @Nick Foligno
@Trent Frederic – @Tomas Nosek – @Curtis Lazar

@Matt Grzelcyk – @Charlie McAvoy
@Mike Reilly – @Brandon Carlo
@Derek Forbort – @Connor Clifton

With @Linus Ullmark having started on Saturday, expect @Jeremy Swayman (7–5–2, .917 SV%) to get the nod against the Red Wings.

Detroit: @Dylan Larkin (15 goals, 29 points); @Lucas Raymond (10 goals, 28 points); @Tyler Bertuzzi (12 goals, 21 points); @Moritz Seider (three goals, 21 points); @Vladislav Namestnikov (eight goals, 17 points).

Boston: @Brad Marchand (11 goals, 29 points); @Patrice Bergeron (10 goals, 23 points); @David Pastrnak (eight goals, 21 points); @Charlie McAvoy (four goals, 18 points); @Charlie Coyle (eight goals, 15 points).

Detroit: Remember when @Sam Gagner spent almost the entire 2018–19 season relegated to the AHL? The 32-year-old forward has enjoyed a nice career renaissance since joining the Red Wings and currently ranks ninth on the team. Gagner’s 13 points in 32 games put him on pace for 33 over a full 82-game season. Not bad for someone making $850,000 this year.

Boston: After 18 scoreless games to begin his Bruins tenure, @Nick Foligno finally netted his first goal of the 2021–22 season in Boston’s 4–3 overtime win over Buffalo on Saturday. It was an important one, too: Foligno scored early in the third period to cut the Sabres’ lead to 3–2. Boston ended up winning 4–3 in overtime.

Sunday’s Red Wings game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit starting at 1:00 p.m. ET. It’ll be sent over the airwaves on WXVT-FM 97.1 “The Ticket” in the Detroit area, as well as on the Red Wings’ official website.

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