The Detroit Red Wings will host a fellow original six foe tonight at Little Caesars Arena. The Chicago Blackhawks roll into town and bring some big guns with them.
Tonight the Detroit Red Wings will lock horns with the Chicago Blackhawks. This will be the Wings second preseason game and the second night of back to back games. The legs won’t be tired though because the Wings will feature a very different group of players tonight than they did last evening.
The Wings will start Jonathan Bernier in goal. Bernier is set to play half the game tonight. Jimmy Howard played the first half last night and was steady. The Penguins didn’t bring Crosby, Malkin or Kessel though. Bernier and Howard set to split time, but Detroit is said to roll with the hot hand, so these appearances are anything but irrelevant.
Bernier will look to slam the door tonight against a bit stiffer competition than the Wings faced last evening. The Chicago Blackhawks are expected to dress captain Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane. The Farmington Hills product, Alex DeBrincat who is 20 years old and recorded 28 goals for the Hawks last season as a rookie is also expected to play tonight.
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Adam Boqvist was drafted 8th overall by the Chicago Blackhawks this past summer. An extraordinarily gifted skating defenseman who I think was high on the Detroit Red Wings draft board. Boqvist will be a player to watch tonight for the Hawks. A couple of other familiar names playing tonight are Chris Kunitz and Brandon Saad. The Blackhawks will feature Anton Forsberg and Kevin Lankinen in goal. Neither Corey Crawford or Cam Ward will play.
The Detroit Red Wings will have Andreas Athanasiou skating between Thomas Vanek and Filip Zadina, who is making his much-anticipated debut. The 6th overall selection will dawn the winged wheel tonight.
This line has an opportunity to start the season as Detroit’s third line. Athanasiou should get a good test tonight likely getting a heavy dose of a stellar two-way forward in Jonathan Toews. Evgeny Svechnikov is in the line-up tonight, and it is critical for him to get off to an excellent start. The Wings are evaluating everyone, but Svechnikov is currently on the bubble between starting in Grand Rapids or Detroit.
A couple of young defenders to watch tonight for the Detroit Red Wings are Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek. They may see some time playing together tonight. Joe Hicketts played last evening and will also be apart of the game tonight.
Givani Smith and David Pope are forwards to keep tabs on tonight for the Wings. Expect these two to be a part of the Detroit Red Wings as regulars next season. Pope is a bit more seasoned; he turns 24 years old in a week. Smith at 6’2, 210 is a power forward who loves to bang the body and mix it up.
Other Veteran Detroit Red Wings set to play tonight are Trevor Daley, Jonathan Ericsson, Luke Glendening, and Darren Helm. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Detroit Plus tonight. It can be heard on 1270am CBS radio.