The Red Wings dropped another game on Tuesday, marking their fifth straight loss (0-2-3) and moving them to 20-21-9, which is dead last in the Eastern Conference and third last in the NHL. 

Detroit finished January at 4-5-5 (13 points), which was tied for 21st in the month—they averaged 2.57 goals for and 3.29 goals against per game over that span. 

Despite all of their struggles, head coach Jeff Blashill told Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that they are “100 percent” capable of going on a run. 

While I’m not as confident, the Red Wings come in nine points back of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second Wild Card spot and the same amount of points behind the Bruins for third in the Atlantic. Regardless, the Red Wings are better served to miss the playoffs, because I don’t think anyone truly believes they can beat Montreal or Washington in a seven-game series. 

Tonight they will take on the Islanders for the second time this season. They came out on the right side of a 4-3 overtime final back in early-December, but the Islanders are a rejuvenated team today. They fired head coach Jack Capuano after a 4-0 win in Boston on January 16th and named former player Doug Weight as their interim coach. Including that win, the Islanders have gone 6-0-1 in their last seven while averaging 3.29 goals for and 1.43 goals against per game. 

The Red Wings will roll with the same 18 skaters as they did on Tuesday, but their forward lines will look a little bit different. Tomas Tatar and Dylan Larkin will move up to play with former Islander Frans Nielsen. That will bump Thomas Vanek and Andreas Athanasiou down to the Helm line. Vanek and Helm had a lot of chemistry earlier in the season and he’s had similarly good chemistry with Athanasiou, so that could be a line that clicks. 

Riley Sheahan, who is still searching for his first goal (it’s honestly getting funny at this point) will centre the fourth line, but inexplicably will start on the first power play unit. Anthony Mantha and Gustav Nyquist didn’t back check on the Kyle Palmieri shorthanded goal on Tuesday and Blashill will stick it to them by taking them off of the power play—at least that was the case in Thursday’s practice and today’s morning skate. 

I mean, what better way to improve the league’s worst power play then by taking two of your best players off and using a player who hasn’t scored this season. Bag skate them, fine, don’t bump them from the power play. 

During the Islanders’ seven-game point streak, their captain and best player John Tavares has led the way with nine points (3G / 6A). His linemates Anders Lee and Josh Bailey have combined for five goals and four assists over that span. Their offseason signing of Andrew Ladd hasn’t worked out well, but his play has improved recently and he has scored six goals goals with two assists (eight points) in his last 12 games. 

The Islanders will get a couple of players back tonight. Cal Clutterbuck has missed four of the last seven games with a lower-body injury, but he will replace Shane Prince on the fourth line tonight. On the blueline, Thomas Hickey will replace Scott Mayfield after missing the last two contests with a lower-body injury of his own. 

Petr Mrazek vs. Thomas Greiss. 

For some reason Blashill has started Jared Coreau a ton lately, but has finally come to his senses and will start Mrazek vs. the Islanders. Mrazek has certainly had his struggles this season, but not all the blame can be put on him. According to Sean Tierney (@ChartingHockey) Mrazek has faced the third closest average shots of netminders who have played 1000-plus minutes—the only goalies who are facing closer shots are Henrik Lundqvist and the man who will be in the Islanders’ crease tonight. 

Mrazek is the goalie of the future in Detroit and this season is all but lost, so why not get him as much experience as possible? He might be having a tough 2016-17 season, but he went 75-43-25 with a 2.35 GAA (t-15th) and .920 SV% (t-11th) in the two previous seasons. This is a down-year, it happens. They need to stick with him and let him work through it.

Greiss has been great since the Islanders waived Jaroslav Halak and made him their starter. He has gone 7-2-3 with a 1.99 GAA, .936 SV% and two shutouts since that time. That SV% ranks tied for third and GAA is sixth in the NHL over that span. He’s been lights out and the Red Wings might have a tough time solving him tonight. 

Puck drop is at 7:30pm at Joe Louis Arena. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit or the NHL Network. If you can’t watch the game you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket. 

Also, make sure to follow us on Twitter; we’ll have live tweets, GIFS, and all the fun stuff that a topical social media platform has.

#lgrw ?