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WGD: Game 39: Red Wings vs. Penguins

Dec 27, 2018, 12:59 EST

The NHL is back in action tonight, which means the Red Wings hit the ice after a much needed break. Their opponent is the very dangerous Pittsburgh Penguins team that has clawed it’s way back into playoff position after a rocky start to the season.

The Pens are 7-2-1 in their last 10 and are coming off a nice five day break. Their offense is top-10 in the league with 118 goals on the season, mostly coming from the usual suspects. They’ve had some trouble in net and defensively, but Jim Rutherford is no stranger to shaking up the roster, which is something he’s done on a small-scale this year to get the group going.

As for the Red Wings, their last game before the break is not long forgotten. After blowing a one goal lead with seven seconds left in the game, they allowed a weak goal in overtime and surrendered the loss to the Maple Leafs. The Wings are now on a two game losing skid and, missing some of their most dangerous offensive players, have quite the hill to climb tonight against a talented Pittsburgh team.

THE RED WINGS

Detroit Red Wings lines via DailyFaceoff

LW	C	RW
Gustav Nyquist Rating: 74.4#33 LW	Dylan Larkin Rating: 78.2#32 C	Justin Abdelkader Rating: 70.0#103 RW
Tyler Bertuzzi Rating: 72.6#59 LW	Frans Nielsen Rating: 72.5#98 C	Thomas Vanek Rating: 71.9#74 RW
Andreas Athanasiou Rating: 74.1#57 LW	Luke Glendening Rating: 69.4#177 C	Michael Rasmussen Rating: 71.0#147 RW
Christoffer Ehn Rating: 71.8#75 LW	Jacob De La Rose Rating: 67.9#124 C	Martin Frk Rating: 69.2#111 RW

Defensive Pairings
Dennis Cholowski Rating: 71.5#82 LD	Trevor Daley Rating: 70.0#114 RD
Niklas Kronwall Rating: 71.9#68 LD	Nick Jensen Rating: 71.2#72 RD
Jonathan Ericsson Rating: 69.0#126 LD	Filip Hronek Rating: 72.2#54 RD

The big news today is that Andreas Athanasiou is ready to return to the lineup. Athanasiou has been one of the Wings’ best players this season and his services in the O-zone have been sorely missed in this absence. Blashill currently has him slotted in on the third line, but I don’t think it will take long for him to end up once again with Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek.

Athanasiou’s return means Wade Megan and Luke Witkowski will sit this one out as Martin Frk and Christoffer Ehn flank the wings of De La Rose on the 4th line.

Defensively, the Wings are still without DeKeyser or Green, so Filip Hronek will play another game. Hronek has been okay in his call-up, but his best game was easily against the Maple Leafs where he logged a goal. Hopefully he can build on that performance and secure himself a spot in the lineup.

THE PENGUINS

Pittsburgh Penguins lines via DailyFaceoff

LW	C	RW
Jake Guentzel Rating: 79.1#13 LW	Sidney Crosby Rating: 86.9#4 C	Bryan Rust Rating: 76.3#28 RW
Dominik Simon Rating: 71.4#82 LW	Evgeni Malkin Rating: 81.5#14 C	Patric Hornqvist Rating: 79.2#15 RW
Tanner Pearson Rating: 72.5#60 LW	Derick Brassard Rating: 71.6#124 C	Phil Kessel Rating: 76.6#25 RW
Riley Sheahan Rating: 69.0#182 LW	Matt Cullen Rating: 69.8#172 C	Zach Aston-Reese Rating: 73.2#53 RW

Defensive Pairings
Brian Dumoulin Rating: 74.7#29 LD	Kris Letang Rating: 82.4#2 RD
Olli Maatta Rating: 72.4#60 LD	Juuso Riikola Rating: 72.2#63 RD
Marcus Pettersson Rating: 69.9#116 LD	Jack Johnson Rating: 70.6#86 RD

There’s no doubt that Sidney Crosby is the backbone of this team, but his supporting cast is pretty damn good. Both Phil Kessel and Evgeny Malkin have 37 points. With Jake Guentzel’s 33, the Pens have four players who have over 30 points. There’s no doubt that Guentzel benefits from playing with Crosby, but he’s proven himself to be a more-than-capable NHL player.

On the back-end, the Pens are led by Kris Letang and anchored by Jack Johnson. This D-corps is on the high end of average, which explains why the Pens have had a hard time keeping the puck out of the net. Jamie Oleksiak will not be playing tonight.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Jimmy Howard vs. Matt Murray

When you’re playing a team with the offensive firepower that the Penguins have, you have to go with your undisputed starter. So Jimmy Howard will be in net for the Red Wings. After a rough start in his first game back from injury, Howie is looking to rebound into the beast mode that he was in before he went down.

For the Penguins, Matt Murray is getting the nod. Murray has had a bit of a tough go this year, battling through injuries, and seemingly unable to keep pucks out of the net. Through his 14 games played, Murray has a .900 save percentage and 3.40 goals against average. He’s going to have to do better than that if he wants to return to Stanley Cup form.

HOW TO WATCH

Puck drop is at 7:00 P.M. ET tonight. You’ll be able to watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit or ATTSN-PG if you’re tuning in from the Pittsburgh area.

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