Tough Schedule Awaits Detroit Red Wings This Week

The third week of the regular season will provide the Detroit Red Wings three big challenges as they face three high powered offensive teams.

Offensive firepower awaits the Red Wings this week as they must face the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Washington Capitals within just five days.

All three of these teams have lit up the scoreboard thus far and have had their impact players show up, as usual, to get them off to a hot start.

Here’s a look at each team.

Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning has scored 20 goals in just five games, four of which have been wins for the Florida team.

Nikita Kucherov has scored in every game for the Lightning thus far and will be one to watch for on Monday night.

Stevan Stamkos is still getting back into the swing of things with just one goal but his six assists show his effectiveness even when he’s not scoring goals.

Expect this game against the Red Wings to be a high scoring encounter. They haven’t blown out any team yet as their biggest margin of victory has only been two goals, so the Wings will need to be able to match any goals conceded quite quickly.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs have scored 26 goals in five games and are perhaps the top offensive team in the NHL right now. Six different players have five points or more, including leading scorer Auston Matthews who is off to a good start in his sophomore season in the league.

Much like the Lightning, the Leafs are scoring lots of goals but they also have been conceding quite a few as well. This should be another close game but it will be interesting to see if the Wings can recover from what could be a very physical and high energy game against Tampa.

Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin is not messing around this year, the Russian forward has already amassed nine goals in six games. However, he is not the leading scorer for the Capitals. Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov both have 11 points to their name already.

Out of this three-game slate, the Capitals have been the least productive in terms of goal scoring. Additionally, they closed out the week with an 8-2 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers and have lost three of their last four after winning their first two games.

At home, the Wings should be looking at a good chance of winning this game. As long as they keep Ovechkin at bay then the Caps may have a hard time finding other outlets for goals.

Vancouver Canucks

The Red Wings will close out their week against the Canucks who are on a three-game skid entering this week. They have a brutal five-game road trip on the horizon and the matchup against the Wings will be game no.4. A win should be expected out of this one.