I’m a little late getting to this because I brought home a new puppy yesterday and suddenly the Red Wings aren’t as important for the news few months.

The Red Wings are coming off of a 5-3 loss in Tampa Bay and have now lost two in a row while being outscored 9-to-4. The loss means the Red Wings were swept by the Lightning in their five-game season series—they have won just seven of the last 25 meetings with Tampa Bay, including the playoffs.

Tonight, their longtime rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs will make their final trip to Joe Louis Arena. The Maple Leafs have surprised a lot of people by being in a playoff spot in April, but former Red Wings’ head coach Mike Babcock has done an excellent job with one of the youngest groups in the NHL. Detroit is trying to avoid a season sweep to the Maple Leafs as well. They have lost 5-4 in overtime, 4-0 and 3-2 in regulation in the first three meetings.

The Maple Leafs final trip to “The Joe” obviously means it will be Babcock’s last trip as well. Babcock had an excellent run as the Red Wings head coach, totalling a 458-223-105 record from 2006-to-2015.That stretch included five division titles, two Stanley Cup Finals appearances and one Stanley Cup.

Detroit Red Wings Lines via DailyFaceoff

The Red Wings’ lineup will look a little different tonight with Anthony Mantha sidelined for the rest of the season. Mantha suffered what was announced as an “upper-body” injury during a fight with Lightning defenseman Luke Witkowski on Thursday. Mantha will miss the remainder of the season, so his rookie campaign wraps up with 17 goals, 19 assists (36 points) and five fights in 60 games. Mantha has an edge to his game, but you don’t want to see him getting hurt while dropping the mittens.

With Mantha out, Ben Street will be back in the lineup tonight. Street registered an assist in his Red Wings’ debut on Tuesday and has posted big numbers in the AHL.

Henrik Zetterberg picked up one assist on Thursday, giving him 16 goals and 48 assists (64 points) in 77 games this season, but most importantly it was Zetterberg’s 900th career point. Zetterberg has surpassed everyone’s expectations this season and has shown he has plenty left in the tank to try and get the Red Wings back into the playoffs next season.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lines via DailyFaceoff

This afternoon, William Nylander was named NHL’s rookie of the month for March. The 20-year-old winger had 14 points (4G / 10A) in 14 games during March and walked away with his second rookie of the month award this season—the other was in October. It was also the fourth time a Maple Leafs has won the award in six months.

Fellow rookie Austin Matthews, set a new franchise record by scoring his 35th goal on Tuesday and added another in Nashville on Thursday to give him 36 goals and 27 assists (63 points) in 76 games. The rookie madness continued with Mitch Marner, who set a team rookie record this week as well. Marner registered his 41st assist of the season on Thursday, which is the most helpers ever by a Toronto rookie. This rookie class is very dangerous and appear ready to make the Maple Leafs contenders in the next few years.

Jimmy Howard vs. Frederik Andersen.

After sitting and watching Petr Mrazek in Tampa Bay, Howard will climb back between the pipes tonight. Howard allowed four goals on 32 shots in Tuesday’s loss in Carolina, but he is 4-2-0 with a strong 2.15 GAA and .925 SV% since returning to the crease. Howie hasn’t seen the Maple Leafs this season thanks to injury, but he is 5-5-1 with a 1.77 GAA, .938 SV% and one shutout on home ice.

Andersen suffered an injury in Buffalo over the weekend, but only missed Tuesday’s game vs. Florida and Curtis McElhinney stood tall in his absence. Andersen returned to the crease on Thursday and showed no ill effects, stopping 29 of 30 shots en route to a 3-1 win in Nashville. The goalie they call the “Great Dane” is 3-0-0 with a 1.96 GAA and .928 SV% vs. Detroit this season.

Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. ET at Joe Louis Arena. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit and the NHL Network in the United States and nationally in Canada on CBC. If you can’t watch the game you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket.

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