On Tuesday, the Red Wings sent the Ducks flying away from Detroit with a loss. It all started with a sneaky-as-hell interception goal by our best player that likes to shoots pucks in his basement.

After that surprise win against a competitive team, the Wings continue this stretch against the top teams in the league. Tonight, it’s the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Wings are 0-7-1 against the Lightining, dating back to a last season,  and 0-3 this season against this dangerous team. So this will be fun…

Coming off of an astounding 5-3 loss against the Buffalo Sabres, this Lightning team will sure be excited to get back on the ice and prove that they are the best team in the whole league. They are still the most potent offense with 204 goals scored – top of the league in that category. With Victor Hedman back there, you already know they have a top-5 defence in the league…well precisely 8th in Goals Against with 154.

This will be a tough matchup for Wings fans to watch if you want this team to still be productive this year. If you’re in the “Just Lose As Much As You Can To Get a Top-5 Pick” group, then this game will meet your expectations.

The lines for your Detroit Red Wings remain unchanged from Tuesday’s battle against the Ducks.

The Tatar-Larkin-Athanasiou line weren’t producing the way that Wings fans hoped for, but they showed us with an impressive 2-goal night from Tatar and Larkin added a goal as well. Together, this line has the highest 5v5 CF% among the whole team so far this season, at 55.56%.

Meanwhile, the first line of Nyquist-Zetterberg-Mantha, is 21st in the whole league in 5v5 xGF. This line is one of the best in the league for getting chances, but are 40th in raw Goals For – they just aren’t converting those chances into goals.

On the blueline, you know how they have been performing.

 

God damn Jon Cooper and his nice looking 11-7 lineup.

The Hedman-Dotchin pairing rank 18th among 5v5 xG+/- (min. 200 minutes played) at 3.94. But overall, the defence is not where this team gets their goals from – it’s that damn offense.

Jon Cooper has spread out his offense through the lineup. No more is the dominating Namestnikov-Stamkos-Kucherov line, but rather a less-dominant but still extremely powerful, 3 lines. Recent call-ups Matthew Peca and Adam Erne, have impressed with the ice-time that they have been given. In just 9 games played this season, Peca has 2 goals and 5 points – 3 of those points coming in the last 2 games. Peca is a hot boy.

There’s also this guy named Steven Stamkos, and he’s just okay I guess.

Yeah, Vasilevskiy is good.

In my favourite goalie stat, 5v5 Goals Saved Above Average, Vasilevskiy ranks 8th in the league this season with 9.58. Meanwhile Howard, ranks 43rd with a -1.25.

Andrei is having a great season with the Lightning, currently at a .928 sv% – he is one of the best in the league right now and he’s only 23. Against the Red Wings this season, he is at a .935 sv%. Although, he oddly is better away than at home. .937 sv% visiting – while only a .916 sv% at Amalie Arena.

Howard has been not the greatest this season, but he’s just so damn nice. In the 2 games so far this season against the Lightning, he has a .906 sv%. So not the greatest, but that’s expected when Stamkos, Kucherov & co. are storming at you with Danny DeKeyser in-front of you.

Let’s hope for the best!

Puck drop between the Red Wings and Lightning will be at 7:30 p.m. at Amalie Arena in Tampa. It can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit.

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