WGD: GAME 17, RED WINGS VS LIGHTNING

We’re one-fifth of the way through the 2016-17 season already and things aren’t looking good for the Red Wings. They sit at 8-7-1 (17 points), which is good for fifth in the Atlantic Division and puts them two points out of the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. 

It’s obviously way too early to start worrying about where they sit in the standings, but there aren’t many positives to take out of the first 20 percent of the season. Detroit is 19th in goals against (2.69 GA/PG), 22nd in scoring (2.44 GF/PG) with the  20th ranked power-play (15.3%), 26th ranked penalty-kill (77.5%) and the worst Corsi in the entire league (45.35 CF%)—whether you are a believer in advanced stats or not, being the worst at anything doesn’t bode well for your success. 

Let’s take a look at how those numbers stack up against the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

The Red Wings were beat handily in Tampa Bay in the season opener and they are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning, dating back to last season. Detroit has averaged just 2.00 goals per game in those 10 games, which is no where near good enough against a talented Lightning offence. 

Let’s breakdown tonight’s lineups and starting netminders. 

Detroit Red Wings Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff

I’m not sure what kind of booze Jeff Blashill had in his coffee or orange juice on Monday morning, but he had Luke Glendening skating on the second line with Frans Nielsen and Dylan Larkin. Hopefully, I will be updating these lines after the morning skate, because they don’t exactly look like the lines that are going to sparking a sleepy offence. Anthony Mantha had a strong season debut in Montreal, showcasing why he should have been recalled sooner. Mantha led all Red Wings’ forwards with 18:58 TOI, including a team-high 5:38 on the power-play. Hopefully, Blashill continues with this kind of usage, because he looked dangerous and the Red Wings need that influx of offence. 

The lines run at Monday’s practice also showed that Drew Miller will get back into the lineup for Steve Ott. It’s not surprising that Ott will likely be a healthy scratch, after his antics on the penalty kill that led to a 5-on-3 for the Canadiens that effectively ended the Red Wings’ chances on Saturday. 

There was some injury news to come out of Monday’s session. Niklas Kronwall will not play tonight because of his on-going knee problems. His knee damage is permanent, so he will likely come out of the lineup frequently to rest and rehab his ailing knees. On a good note, Thomas Vanek skated again and said that he is ready to return to the lineup on Sunday—when he is eligible to be activated from long-term injured reserve. 

The good news for the Red Wings is that the Lightning come in on the tail-end of a back-to-back. This marks the fourth time this season that the Red Wings have faced a team in that situation—surprisingly they are 0-3-0 and have been outscored 12-6 in the first three. Tampa Bay beat the Islanders 4-0 last night, but have alternated losses and wins in their last eight games, so that’s a streak that Red Wings’ fans hope continues. 

The Lightning will be without Anton Stralman, who is expected to miss at least two more games and should be without Jonathan Drouin as well. The young winger has missed the last six games and is expected to return on the road-trip, but it likely won’t be on Tuesday. With Drouin out, Vladislav Namestnikov plays a bigger role and both Slater Koekkoek and Nikita Nesterov play with Stralman sitting. 

Jimmy Howard started the last four games, but Petr Mrazek is the confirmed starter vs. the Lightning. Mrazek stopped all 12 shots that he faced after replacing Howard in the loss to Montreal. He has lost his last three starts while allowing four goals in each start and posting an ugly .850 SV%. On the season, Mrazek has a 3.06 GAA and .908 SV%, but more of that is attributed to poor play in front of him rather than Mrazek playing poorly. That said, there is still room for improvement in his game. The 24-year-old gave up five goals on 35 shots in the season opening loss in Tampa Bay. 

Andrei Vasilevskiy started last night, so look for Ben Bishop to start tonight vs. the Red Wings. Bishop has had a rough start to the season, posting a 2.93 GAA and .903 SV% in 10 appearances. On the road, Bishop has gone 2-3-0 with a 2.82 GAA and .914 SV% and I’m not even going to mention his dominating numbers against the Red Wings… 

Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. ET at Joe Louis Arena. You can watch the game on NBCSN and Fox Sports Detroit or listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket. 

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