WGD: GAME 19: RED WINGS VS. FLAMES
By Brock Seguin
6 years agoAfter a four-game road-trip, the Red Wings returned home on the weekend, losing 2-1 in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Red Wings actually played a good game, carrying the play for the majority of the game, but had a hard time solving Sergei Bobrovsky, which isn’t rare.
Tonight they catch a bit of a break with Mike Smith (undisclosed) sidelined with an injury. With Smith out, Eddie Lack gets the call for the Flames and he is a significantly worse goalie than the one they faced on Saturday. Detroit faced the same Flames team on the road last Thursday, losing 6-3 in a high-event hockey game. Calgary comes into Detroit with a 4-2-0 record while averaging 2.67 goals for and 2.50 goals against per game on the road this season.
Let’s see how these two teams match-up.
Record | 8-8-2 (4th in ATL) | 10-7-0 (4th in PAC) |
Goals For | 2.61 GF/PG (26th) | 2.88 GF/PG (t-16th) |
Goals Against | 2.78 GA/PG (12th) | 2.94 GA/PG (t-16th) |
Power Play | 18.9% (16th) | 17.2% (20th) |
Penalty Kill | 84.6% (7th) | 74.6% (29th) |
CorsiFor% | 49.7 CF% (18th) | 52.1 CF% (7th) |
THE RED WINGS
Detroit Red Wings lines via DailyFaceoff
LW | C | RW |
---|---|---|
ANTHONY MANTHA | HENRIK ZETTERBERG | GUSTAV NYQUIST |
TOMAS TATAR | DYLAN LARKIN | ANDREAS ATHANASIOU |
DAVID BOOTH | FRANS NIELSEN | JUSTIN ABDELKADER |
SCOTT WILSON | LUKE GLENDENING | LUKE WITKOWSKI |
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
---|---|
JONATHAN ERICSSON | TREVOR DALEY |
XAVIER OUELLET | MIKE GREEN |
NIKLAS KRONWALL | NICK JENSEN |
The Red Wings will be forced to make a number of lineup changes tonight. Martin Frk (groin) and Darren Helm (undisclosed) are not available, but they will get Justin Abdelkader back from a fractured cheek bone. David Booth will also draw back in as the 12th forward.
The sample size is extremely small, but the Tomas Tatar–Dylan Larkin–Andreas Athanasiou line has been impressive, but maybe it’s just anyone who plays with Dylan Larkin plays better.
Player | 5v5 TOI Without Larkin | CF% Without Larkin | 5v5 TOI With Larkin | CF% With Larkin | CF% +/- |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andreas Athanasiou | 46:19 | 33.02 | 52:21 | 58.93 | +25.91 |
Martin Frk | 109:25 | 44.83 | 48:07 | 64.35 | +19.52 |
Anthony Mantha | 142:01 | 46.18 | 111:67 | 57.54 | +11.36 |
Tomas Tatar | 154:49 | 50.00 | 88:39 | 50.68 | +0.68 |
Justin Abdelkader | 107:16 | 51.74 | 103:27 | 50.82 | -0.92 |
* per NaturalStatTrick
THE FLAMES
Calgary Flames lines via DailyFaceoff
LW | C | RW |
---|---|---|
JOHNNY GAUDREAU | SEAN MONAHAN | MICHEAL FERLAND |
MATTHEW TKACHUK | MIKAEL BACKLUND | MICHAEL FROLIK |
SAM BENNETT | MARK JANKOWSKI | JAROMIR JAGR |
KRIS VERSTEEG | CURTIS LAZAR | TROY BROUWER |
DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS | |
---|---|
MARK GIORDANO | DOUGIE HAMILTON |
T.J. BRODIE | TRAVIS HAMONIC |
BRETT KULAK | MICHAEL STONE |
The Red Wings were torched by the Flames’ top line last week. Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and one assist, Sean Monahan had two helpers and Michael Ferland picked one goal—he is on a four-game goal scoring streak. ‘
Mark Jankowski picked up his first career NHL goal in that game and then added two goals and an assist on Monday—giving up four points in his last two games. The return of Jaromir Jagr seems to have settled the Flames secondary scoring woes for the time being, making it hard for the Red Wings to match-up on the road, so being at Little Caesars Arena should help this time around.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Jimmy Howard gets back between the pipes for the Red Wings after stopping 32 of 33 shots in the shootout loss to Columbus. Howard has had a really good year so far, going 6-5-1 with a 2.34 GAA and .930 SV%, including a 2-2-1 record, 2.57 GAA and .922 SV% at LCA.
Lack hasn’t played a lot because Smith is a workhorse. In just 111:45 of playing time this year, Lack has allowed a combined seven goals on just 49 shots (.857 SV%). He’s allowed three power-play goals on just eight shots (.625 SV%), which doesn’t bode well considering the Flames have the 29th ranked power-play this year. The Red Wings have a good chance to rack up some goals tonight.
HOW TO WATCH
Puck-drop between the Red Wings and Flames is at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. You can catch the game on Fox Sports Detroit-PLUS in the United States or SportsNet in Canada.
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