WGD: GAME 44: MONDAY MATINEE

Happy Martin Luther King Day!  

The Red Wings will get an early start to their week when they host the Canadiens this afternoon in a rare Monday matinee. 

Detroit is coming off of their biggest win of the season, beating the reigning Stanley Cup Champions 6-3. They trailed 2-0 after the first period but exploded in the second and third and it could have been the performance they needed to make a run in the second half. Or, it was just a mirage. We’ll see. 

Today will be the third of five meetings between the Red Wings and Canadiens and the first two have not went well for the Red Wings. Back in November they lost 5-0 in Montreal and then dropped the next meeting 2-1 in OT two weeks later. Unfortunately, the Red Wings did not get the Canadiens when they were extremely banged up. They went a month without Alex Galchenyuk, but it looks like they’ll be without Andrei Markov, Brendan Gallagher and David Desharnais today. 

Let’s take a look at today’s projected lineups: 

Head coach Jeff Blashill refused to reveal his lineup on Sunday, but it would be difficult to imagine him changing the lineup that just played arguably their best game of the year. The one change that will be made is Dylan Larkin will move back to the wing. Riley Sheahan will shift back to centre and take a little pressure off of Larkin. 

On Saturday, Andreas Athanasiou scored a goal of the year candidate and both Thomas Vanek and Anthony Mantha had strong games. Those three have been carrying the Red Wings recently. Mantha has 15 points (7G / 8A) and Vanek has 14 points (5G / 9A) in the last 12 games and Athanasiou has registered seven points (4G / 3A) in five games since being healthy scratched. 

Adding Mike Green back into the lineup recently has been big for the Red Wings. He is by far their best defenseman and one of their only real offensive threats on the blueline. He had one goal and one assist vs. the Penguins and has now topped his goal total from last year with eight in 35 games. 

Galchenyuk returned to the lineup on Saturday and scored one goal in 16:37 TOI. The goal gave him 10 on the season which amounts to 24 points (10G / 14A) in 26 games. While Galchenyuk was out, Philip Danault got a big opportunity on the Canadiens top line and comes into play with three goals and seven assists (10 points) in his last one games. 

The Canadiens’ blueline is still deep even without Markov in the lineup. Shea Weber leads the way with 28 points (10G / 18A) in 44 games, but with Markov out, Nathan Beaulieu and Jeff Petry have played extremely well. Offensively, Petry has 13 points (5G / 8A) in his last 17 games and Beaulieu has picked up nine points (1G / 7A) in his last nine contests. 

Blashill didn’t say who would start in net, but it looks like it will be Jared Coreau for the second straight game. Coreau stopped 28 of 31 shots in the 6-3 win over the Penguins on Saturday and is now 4-1-1 with a 3.12 GA and .903 SV%. Remember when Jimmy Howard was playing unreal but the Red Wings couldn’t score in front of him? Well Coreau isn’t playing great, but the Red Wings are averaging 3.14 goals for per game in front of him. For Howard, they averaged just 1.12 goals for in 17 games. 

Unfortunately for the Red Wings, Carey Price will be in net for Montreal. He started the first two games too and posted a 0.49 GAA, .983 SV% and one shutout, so the Red Wings have their work cut out for them. With that said, Price has struggled recently. The 29-year-old has gone 3-3-2 with a 3.70 GAA and .881 SV% in his last eight starts, so there is a glimmer of hope. 

Puck drop is at 3:00 p.m. ET at Joe Louis Arena. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit. If you can’t watch the game you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket. 

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