Call it uninspired or call it fatigued from playing their third game in three nights, but the Red Wings were basically run out of Carolina on Tuesday. The loss officially ended the Red Wings’ 25-year playoff streak and signalled the end of an era in Detroit.

The Red Wings now have six meaningless games to play to end the season, including two on the road and the final four contests at Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit was unable to play spoiler against the Tampa Bay Lightning last week, but they get another chance tonight. The Lightning are trying to keep their season alive and they have a good chance at coming away with two points tonight. The Red Wings have not been able to beat the Lightning this season, going 0-3-1 in the first four meetings of the season, while averaging a meagre 2.25 goals for and giving up a whopping 4.00 goals against.

Detroit Red Wings Lines via DailyFaceoff

After missing Tuesday’s game with a rib injury, Andreas Athanasiou was back on the ice for today’s morning skate and is listed as a game-time decision for tonight. Athanasiou would replace Ben Street if he is able to play. Street recorded on assist in 10:01 TOI in his Red Wings debut on Tuesday.

The Red Wings will play teams in the playoff chase in five of their final six games, so it will be good to see how the team responds against teams they will be competing with to get back in next season. However, this will be their fourth game in five nights, so expect to see a fatigued group again tonight.

Tampa Bay Lightning Lines via DailyFaceoff

The Lightning are a playoff calibre team, but injuries have plagued them all season. However, they are getting healthier right now and the returns of Steven Stamkos and Tyler Johnson are on the horizon. Both centres took part in today’s morning skate, but won’t play tonight. Each of them is getting closer to playing and could be back on the weekend, which would be huge news for a team still on the outside looking in.

With Stamkos out, Nikita Kucherov continued to take the team over, like he started to do in 2015-16. The 23-year-old winger has an insane 12 goals and 10 assists (22 points) in March and has always dominated the Red Wings—including five points (3G / 2A) in three games this season.

Petr Mrazek vs. Andrei Vasilevskiy.

The Red Wings’ goalie rotation continues tonight with Mrazek making his fifth appearance of the season against the Lightning. Mrazek has gone 1-1-1 while stopping 97 of 104 shots (.933 SV%) in his last three starts, but has struggled to a 0-3-1 record, 3.89 GAA and .865 SV% versus Tampa Bay in 2016-17.

Vasilevskiy comes in after making 29 saves in the Lightning’s come from behind OT win over Chicago on Tuesday and has won two in a row with a .915 SV%. The young netminder has gone 2-0-0 with a 1.08 GAA and .962 SV% vs. Detroit this season.

Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m. ET at Amalie Arena, Tampa, FL. You can watch the game on Fox Sports Detroit and if you can’t watch the game you can listen to it on 97.1 FM The Ticket.

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