The Detroit Red Wings went 1-3-1 on their five game home stand, not giving the fans much to cheer for. Yesterday, they landed in Winnipeg with a key part of their roster ready to play. With Mike Green in the lineup, the Red Wings are 13-8-2. Without him, they are 3-13-5. Needless to say it’s good to have him back, especially against one of the top teams in the league.

The Winnipeg Jets are currently two points behind tying the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division. They are a powerhouse that is a legit contender for the Stanley Cup. At home, they are 15-6-2. They’re one of the top-10 teams in the league in goal scoring and one of the top-10 teams in the league in goals allowed. In their last 10 games, they’re 5-5-0. They’ll be a real challenge for Detroit tonight.

There’s no update to the Red Wings forwards lines as Coach Blashill wants to open with what they had against the Canadiens. Andreas Athanasiou contributed two goals that game and was creating chances for his line mates. The only problem is his line mates are Darren Helm and Luke Glendening. I understand spreading out your talent to an extent, but Athanasiou should be in the top-6 where he can help be even more productive.

Green is going to headline the top pair with Dennis Cholowski, creating a dangerous one-two punch with speed and puck control. Jensen will return to his original spot on a pair with Kronwall and the Ericsson-Hronek pairing remains untouched. Already with Witkowski off this blue line it starts to look competent again. Big questions loom about what will happen when Danny DeKeyser returns, though. Likely, Hronek gets sent back down, but he’s looked good enough on this stretch to stay the rest of the year.

The Jets are without two of their top players in Dustin Byfuglien and Nikolaj Ehlers as both are sitting with injuries. Byfuglien, if you remember, scored the game winner the last time these two teams met.

There are lots of others who can score the game winner on the Jets lineup, though. Like captain and leading point-getter Blake Wheeler. Or leading goal scorers Mark Scheifele and Patrik Laine, who each have 24 goals already this year.

They have a lot of depth scoring, too, in guys like Bryan Little, Mathieu Perreault, and Michigan native Jacob Trouba. Josh Morrissey has also had a great year on the blue line.

Needless to say, the Jets have enough depth to keep the Wings skating hard all game long.

Jonathan Bernier vs. Laurent Brossoit

The Red Wings are drawing the back-up goalie tonight as Connor Hellebuyck played last night in Minnesota. This is nothing to scoff at, though. Brossoit has posted a.939 save percentage and 2.11 goals against average through 10 games played this season (8-1-1). He was in net on October 26th when the Jets were in Detroit and turned aside 28 Red Wings shots in the 2-1 victory.

Bernier will likely go for Detroit tonight after a long rest. He’ll need to be on top of his game as the Jets have elite offensive power that can be unleashed at any moment. As long as the Wings don’t leave him out to dry on the penalty kill, he can handle it.

Puck drop is at 8:00 P.M. ET tonight and you’ll be able to watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit or TSN3 if you’re tuning in from Canada.

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