Detroit Red Wings are set to Face a King tonight at Home
By Bob Heyrman
After winning 3 of their last 4 games, the Detroit Red Wings will host the New York Rangers tonight inside the confines of Little Ceasars Arena.
Fit for a King? Well not exactly but “King” Henrik Lundqvist is in town tonight, and he is once again playing exceptionally well. The Detroit Red Wings will try to solve the veteran netminder and keep their strong play advancing.
Lundqvist is in a similar spot to Jimmy Howard. Both are backstopping a rebuilding team. Both goalies are facing a lot of shots every night, and both are playing for below average offensive productive teams. King Henrik is posting very nice numbers although the wins are not piling up. He is 5-6-1 with a very good 2.64 GAA, and .922% Save Percentage.
The New York Rangers rank 27th in the league, averaging 2.67 goals per game. The Wings are 28th at 2.60. The Rangers direct 30 shots on goal a night ranking them 21st. The Wings similarly recording 28 a game which ranks 29th.
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The Detroit Red Wings are led by their strong special teams play. They rank in the top ten in both power-play and penalty kill categories. The Rangers on the other hand, rank 22nd in both categories.
Of course, you want to be strong during five on five play, but it is a new age of hockey where many games are dictated with strong special teams play. Detroit will look to get their five on five play going. Help in this regard returns tonight. The Detroit Red Wings are expecting to get Frans Nielsen and double-A back tonight.
The Rangers have 7 wins on the season and come into Detroit sizzling. They have won four straight but all streaks are going to end at some point, and for the Wings sake, we hope it is tonight.
With the pair of forwards expecting to return, Nielsen from a concussion and AA a leg injury the Wings have returned Christoffer Ehn to Grand Rapids. Wade Megan should be the next to be returned if everyone remains healthy after tonight or quite possibly tomorrow.
Which Rangers players to watch; For the Rangers, it isn’t precisely the Rangers of the past. Although they have a couple of nice pieces still hanging around in their lineup. Mika Zibanejad is a good center and skates as their top center. Jesper Fast is a solid young scoring winger that is still on the rise. Big Kevin Hayes loves to throw his body around and cause havoc. When he decides to show up to the rink in a bad mood, he can be a lot to handle.
Chris Kreider is a fleet-footed winger who can get into the scoring areas in a hurry using his exceptional speed. The Detroit Red Wings defenders will need to make sure they flip those hips quickly and retreat when Kreider decides to push into the offensive zone.
Mats Zuccarello will be a trade candidate for the NYR as the trade deadline nears. He is a dangerous player when he is in the lineup. Lias Andersson was a top ten pick in 2017, he is still very raw but a superb talent. He is expected to play tonight for the Rangers; I can’t wait to have a look at him. Pavel Buchnevich looks like he will turn into something good for the Rangers pretty soon. The big Russian winger has nice hands and a snipers’ shot.
Our old friend Brenden Smith will be in the Rangers lineup. He and Marc Staal both have minimal upside these days. Kevin Shattenkirk and Brady Skjei are really the only talented defenders that the Rangers have left at this point in time. Adam McQuaid is an excellent defender the Rangers acquired in the offseason from the Boston Bruins, but he is currently injured.
The Detroit Red Wings projected lineup;
Darren Helm – Dylan Larkin – Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou – Frans Nielsen – Gustav Nyquist
Justin Abdelkader – Luke Glendening – Tyler Bertuzzi
Michael Rasmussen – Jacob de La Rose – Martin Frk
Niklas Kronwall – Dennis Cholowski
Jimmy Howard
Injuries; Thomas Vanek (lower-body), Jonathan Ericsson (undisclosed), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee)
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