WGD: GAME 23, RED WINGS VS STARS

The Red Wings had a strong showing on Saturday, but like he’s done to so many other, Carey Price shut them down and stole one for the Canadiens. 

Detroit has gone to the extra-frame in three straight games and sit at .500 on the season (10-10-2) and seventh in the Atlantic Division, five points behind the third-place Tampa Bay Lightning. 

Tonight the Red Wings will take on a Dallas Stars team that has struggled in 2016-17, a season after they led the NHL in scoring. Dallas comes in having alternated wins and losses in their last seven games (3-2-2) and their offence is averaging 0.62 goals per game less than last year and giving up 0.52 more. 

Neither team is playing great, so let’s see how these two teams match-up:

Detroit Red Wings Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff

The Red Wings were handed two more blows on Saturday. Brendan Smith will miss approximately four weeks with a knee injury, which means Xavier Ouellet is back in the lineup tonight. It was also announced that Tyler Bertuzzi would be out 3-5 weeks with a high ankle sprain, so Detroit summoned Tomas Jurco from his conditioning stint in Grand Rapids (AHL) and he will make his season debut tonight. 

Jurco had one goal and one assist in two games with the Griffins, which gives him six goals and five assists (11 points) in his last seven AHL games. Despite the AHL success, Jurco has had a tough time translating that into NHL success—the 23-year-old had just six points (4G / 2A) in 44 games a season ago. 

Aside from Jurco replacing Bertuzzi, the forward lines will remain the same as they were on Saturday. It was nice to see Frans Nielsen get his offence going over the weekend, picking up two goals and two assist in the Friday-Saturday back-to-back. Nielsen has averaged 53 points per 82-games over his last three seasons with the Islanders, but is on-pace for just 45 points (19G / 26A) in his first year with the Red Wings. If he can get back on his old pace, Nielsen would score 39 points over the final 60 games and that’s something the Red Wings could desperately use. 

The Stars have struggled to score, especially veterans Jason Spezza and Patrick Sharp, which is why you see them in the bottom-6. When the Stars play on the road, they tend to balance out their lines in order to make it easier to match-up. 

Those two may be struggling, but Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn continue about their ways. Seguin, who has a great last name by the way, is tied for fourth in the NHL in points with 23 (7G / 16A), while Benn’s 20 points (7G / 13A) is tied for 12th. It is nearly impossible to stop these two forwards, but you can contain them and them and the Red Wings did a good job of it last season. While splitting the season series with Dallas, Seguin and Benn only combined for one goal and two assists. 

On the blueline, the Stars are led by John Klingberg, who hasn’t picked up as many points as he’s used to. He has been joined by former first rounder Julius Honka, who posted great numbers at the AHL level and has come up and picked up three assists in his first four NHL games. 

The goaltending matchup is expected to be Petr Mrazek vs. Kari Lehtonen. 

Mrazek played well vs. Montreal, stopping 22 of 24 shots in the overtime loss. One of those saves was absolute larceny early in the first period and is a definite save of the year candidate. It’s so good you have to watch it again.

Mrazek is 3-3-1 with a 3.09 GAA and .890 SV% on home-ice this season but its only a matter of time until his numbers start trending in the right direction. Tonight would be Mrazek’s first career start vs. the Dallas Stars. 

With Antti Niemi starting last night, Lehtonen is the Stars’ likely starter. Lehtonen has lost three of his last four starts while posting an ugly 4.35 GAA and .848 SV%. He also carries an ugly 3.33 GAA and .879 SV% on the road this season, so Detroit should have the upper-hand in goal. Lehtonen is 6-6-1 with a 3.31 GAA and .901 SV% in his career vs. Detroit. 

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

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.

#lgrw ?