The Detroit Red Wings had a great afternoon, beating the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 on the back of a 36-save shutout from Petr Mrazek.

It was an excellent performance from the Red Wings, who have now won three of their last four while outscoring their opponents 12-to-8. They get no rest as they immediately traveled to Vancouver for their third game of a four-game Canadian road-trip.

Neither the Red Wings or Canucks were expected to be playoff teams when they are both lingering around the postseason nearly 1/5 of the way through the season. The Canucks have been one of the most surprising teams in the league so far, coming into tonight at 7-4-2, a year after finishing second last in the NHL with a 30-43-9 record.

These two teams don’t meet often since the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference and tonight will be the last of two meetings. The Canucks beat the Red Wings 4-1 on October 22nd—in what might have been the worst performance from Detroit all season.

Let’s see how they match-up coming into this one:

 

The Red Wings practiced with their “regular” lines on Saturday, but they were completely shuffled during yesterday’s game. They became even more jumbled after Gustav Nyquist left in the first period following a knee-on-knee collision. Nyquist started the game with Henrik Zetterberg and Anthony Mantha, but Andreas Athanasiou moved up to that line for a good chunk of time once the Red Wings were down to 11 forwards. Nyquist took to the ice this morning—which is a good sign that he won’t miss an extended period of time—and is listed as a game-time decision.

If Nyquist can’t play, David Booth will likely draw in against his former team. Dylan Larkin played on a checking line with Justin Abdelkader and Luke Glendening, but also saw time with Tomas Tatar and Martin Frk following Nyquist’s departure. The only line that seems to be concrete is the Scott Wilson–Frans Nielsen–Darren Helm trio. Despite getting beat-up from a possession standpoint on Sunday, this line combined for a goal and could be a solid two-way, third line going forward. Since joining the Red Wings, Wilson carries a 52.6 CF% (5.2 relative Corsi) in his first seven games, but his 5.9 on-ice SH% sees him stuck on zero points.

The Red Wings blueline will once again remain the same with Danny DeKeyser out. Trevor Daley and Jonathan Ericsson actually had a good game yesterday against the likes of Connor McDavid. As much as fans love to hate Ericsson, he has actually helped Daley a lot—the duo has a 50.99 CF% together but Daley carries a 40.94 CF% without Ericsson.

 

The Canucks are basically a one-line team. The trio of Sven Baertschi–Bo Horvat–Brock Boeser has combined for six even-strength goals in 88:16 TOI this season—while only giving up two. They’ve also done some damage on the power-play and come in with a combined 14 goals so far this season.

While the Canucks have been surprising as a team, the most shocking start to the year is Derek Dorsett scoring six goals in 13 games—he had six goals in the two previous years combined (85 games).

The Sedin Twins, who are clearly in the twilight of their careers are playing significantly less minutes than they’re used to—both averaging under 14 minutes per night. To this point, Daniel Sedin has two goals and three assists (five points) while Henrik Sedin is still looking for his first goal while picking up there helpers.

Jacob Markstrom starts for the Canucks, but it is unclear who gets the nod for the Red Wings. It seems logical that Jimmy Howard would start with Mrazek being super busy yesterday.

Markstrom is coming off of an excellent 37-save performance in a win over the Penguins on Saturday. Markstrom has won three of his last five starts while allowing just eight goals on 136 shots (.941 SV%). The 27-year-old has gone 2-3-2 with a 2.40 GAA and .921 SV% on home ice so far this season.

If it’s Howard, he comes in after allowing two goals on 29 shots in last Thursday’s loss in Ottawa. He also started the last loss to Vancouver, allowing four goals on 37 shots. He comes into Vancouver with a 2.53 GAA and .927 SV% in 11 starts this season.

 

Puck-drop between the Red Wings and Oilers is at 10:00 p.m. at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can catch the game on Fox Sports Detroit in the United States or on SportsNet Pacific in Canada.

Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter; we’ll have live tweets, GIFS, and all the fun stuff that a topical social media platform has.