WGD: GAME 33, RED WINGS @ HURRICANES

Well, I shook things up in Saturday’s GameDay preview and the Red Wings win, so I might as well stick with the winning formula. It mostly consisted of lightning them up with words and then they respond with six goals—which was double than how many they scored in the previous four games combined, which is what led to the angry words.

After a poor five-game homestand, the Red Wings head out on a three-game road-trip before Christmas. The first stop is Carolina, where they will take on a Hurricanes team that has alternated wins and losses in their last eight games (L, OTW, SOL, W, L, W, SOL, SOW). The Red Wings played very well in their first meeting with the Hurricanes, beating them 4-2 on the back of a two-goal game from Dylan Larkin.

Re-live it, if you’re into that sort of thing: 

 

Detroit Red Wings Lines courtesy of DailyFaceoff

The Red Wings’ road-trip is going to be a tough one because it sounds like they’ll have to play it without their best defenseman. Mike Green suffered an upper-body injury on a late-hit from Ryan Kesler on Saturday and he definitely would play tonight and will likely miss the next three games according to Jeff Blashill. That puts the Red Wings down three regular defensemen as Green joins Brendan Smith and Alexei Marchenko on the mend. This morning Marchenko was moved to the seven-day IR to make room to recall Nick Jensen from Grand Rapids (AHL). 

That was a smart move by Ken Holland because Brian Lashoff took a puck to the face in the morning skate and is questionable to play tonight. Obviously, if he can’t go then Jensen will make his NHL debut. The 26-year-old blueliner has one goal and five assists in 27 gams with Grand Rapids. 

Up front, the Red Wings are expected to look the same as they did on Saturday. For weeks I’ve been saying that Tomas Tatar is going to breakthrough soon and it finally happened. He finally got a few bounces to go his way and it led to his first career hat-trick:

 

As I mentioned in Saturday’s GameDay, the Tatar-Henrik Zetterberg-Anthony Mantha line has been their best line by far and it finally paid off in a big way. Hopefully the six-goal game has ignited this offence and will carry over into Monday. 

The Hurricanes have been one of the biggest surprises to this point in 2016-17. They have the seventh-best CorsiFor% (52.10) in the NHL and the best special teams—they’re tops on the penalty kill (91.3%) and eighth on the power play (21.7%). All of that has led to them being tied for 16th in goals for (2.58) and 14th in goals against (2.68) and tied for 17th with 33 points (13-11-7). While they’re playing really well, the results still haven’t really been there. 

Their top line has been red-hot as of late. Jeff Skinner leads the team in points, with 26 (12G / 14A) in 30 games, which includes six points (3G / 3A) in his last six games. The other members of that top line are Victor Rask, who is second with 25 points (10G / 15A) and 29-year-old journeyman Derek Ryan, who has four goals and seven assists (11 points) in his last 11 games. 

Jimmy Howard vs. Cam Ward. 

Jimmy Howard was given Saturday night off, but he will be back in the crease tonight. Howard has gone 0-2-1 with a 2.35 GAA and .925 SV% since returning from his groin injury. Despite Howard’s excellent play this season, his wins have been limited because the Red Wings struggle to score in front of him. In his 14 starts this season, the Red Wings have averaged 1.14 goals per game. Howard comes into Monday with a 3-2-0 record, 2.20 GAA and .925 SV% on the road this season.

Ward has had some up and down seasons in recent years, but has played very well in 2016-17. The 32-year-old has posted a 2.30 GAA and .915 SV% in 25 starts this season, including 3-1-3 with a 2.32 GAA and .915 SV% in December. In the first meeting between these two teams, Ward stopped 21 of 25 shots. 

Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. ET at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit-plus or you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket. 

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#lgrw ?