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WGD: Game 65: Red Wings vs. Coyotes

Photo credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

By Cameron Kuom

Mar 2, 2019, 15:10 EST

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The Red Wings are making a quick trip out west to face the Arizona Coyotes in the desert. After maybe the most embarrassing loss the team has suffered all season, Detroit is looking to rebound and earn some pride back. But don’t expect it to come easy. The Coyotes are one of the NHL’s hottest teams right now, winning their past five games and now finding themselves in the heat of the western conference playoff race.

THE RED WINGS

LW	C	RW
ANTHONY MANTHA	DYLAN LARKIN	DARREN HELM
TYLER BERTUZZI	ANDREAS ATHANASIOU	FILIP ZADINA
MICHAEL RASMUSSEN	FRANS NIELSEN	LUKE GLENDENING
JUSTIN ABDELKADER	JACOB DE LA ROSE	LUKE WITKOWSKI

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
NIKLAS KRONWALL	MIKE GREEN
DAN DEKEYSER	FILIP HRONEK
MADISON BOWEY	JONATHAN ERICSSON

Filip Zadina remains on the second line for his third NHL game. Jeff Blashill after Tuesday’s loss to Montreal stated how he felt Zadina was one of the teams better players that night. He is still searching for his first NHL goal and point…and Arizona just so happened to be one of the three teams that passed on the Czech’s services on draft night.

Also in is Jonathan Ericsson for Trevor Daley who is reported out with a back injury. Ericsson has been a healthy scratch as of late, making this the first action he has seen in quite some time. Due to the Red Wings injury problem right now Christoffer Ehn was recalled on an emergency basis, so it will not count towards the remaining recalls the team has left for the season.

THE COYOTES

LW	C	RW
ALEX GALCHENYUK	NICK COUSINS	CLAYTON KELLER
VINNIE HINOSTROZA	BRAD RICHARDSON	RICHARD PANIK
LAWSON CROUSE	CHRISTIAN DVORAK	JOSH ARCHIBALD
CHRISTIAN FISCHER	MARIO KEMPE	CONOR GARLAND

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
OLIVER EKMAN-LARSSON	NIKLAS HJALMARSSON
ALEX GOLIGOSKI	JAKOB CHYCHRUN
ILYA LYUBUSHKIN	JORDAN OESTERLE

The Coyotes have been hit real hard with the injury bug, and their depth is starting to be exposed. With the recent news of Derek Stepan being out long-term, Nick Cousins have taken over the first line center duties. Brad Richardson is manning the second line center spot and is coming off a hat-trick.

The depth in AZ is very lacking, but they do boast one of the NHL’s most exciting young players in Clayton Keller. Keller can score in a multitude of ways and will be a handful for the Red Wings defenders to deal with.

BETWEEN THE PIPES

Jimmy Howard vs. Darcy Kuemper

Both starting net-minders are unconfirmed at this point, but both these two are the most likely.

Jimmy Howard has struggled as of late. He has failed to remain in the game for his last three outings. But Howard has been a mainstay all year for Detroit and its only a matter of time before he finds his rhythm again.

Kuemper is the Coyotes go-to man since Antti Raanta went down with injury. In 38 starts this season he has posted an impressive .917 save percentage. He has proven to be a very reliable back up for the desert dogs.