Detroit Red Wings Travel to Carolina Looking to Stay Hot
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings are coming off of back to back two goal deficit come from behind wins. They will look to keep this string of excellent hockey going tonight in Carolina.
If the Detroit Red Wings could ever get off to a good start in a game, they would be helping themselves greatly. The Wings have won five of their last six games but often start so slow out of the gate which forces them to play from behind all too often.
That is not a misprint. This Detroit Red Wings squad is winning hockey game behind the stellar play of Jimmy Howard, and Dylan Larkin. A team that found every way possible early in the season to lose games have sort of turned to tide lately.
Dennis Cholowski and Mike Green have struggled in their own end with defensive zone coverage, so Jeff Blashill decided to split the pair up and it seems to of worked for a few different reasons. Greener has been skating with Daley. Daley is an excellent skating defender who is a defense first guy now at the back end of his career. Mike Green can focus on getting the puck up to the forwards and look to pinch in with confidence knowing Daley has his back.
More from Octopus Thrower
- Detroit Red Wings forward Carter Mazur injured in Prospect Tournament
- Detroit Red Wings: What does Klim Kostin’s role look like in 2023-24?
- Detroit Red Wings: 3 players who will make biggest impact in first year
- The Detroit Red Wings need Andrew Copp to start fast in 2023-24
- Detroit Red Wings had a busy off-season; but was it enough?
Cholowski has been moved to play with Kronwall. It is perfect for a young rookie to play with a mentor like Kronwall. The kid is going to school every shift, learning from the leader. It benefits Kronner as well to have such a good skating defender paired with him. Kronner has a bad wheel and has lost a step or two as he has aged.
Look for the Detroit Red Wings to continue to lean on their top two lines as they did last night at home in a victory over the New York Rangers. AA and Neilsen returned to the lineup after both missing the last handful of games. They would skate with Nyquist and provide an exceptional second line for the Wings.
AA used his world-class speed to his advantage, similar to Larkin forcing the Rangers defenders backward rather than allowing them to push forward up the ice. The pair would team up on the overtime winner. Green got the puck up to AA who feathered a nifty back-hander through traffic onto the stick of Larkin who chipped it over the right shoulder of King Henrik with only 5 seconds remaining in OT.
With the top two lines playing well it frees up the third line to be more of a third line. Abby, Glendening, and Bert can go out there and cause havoc. The line is able to be that energy line not being forced to try and carry the offensive load. They can go out bang the body, be hard on the forecheck and create scoring opportunities for themselves by being physical.
Look for the Detroit Red Wings to continue to give us the warm fuzzy feeling that victories provide tonight as they lock horns with the Carolina Hurricanes.
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 – Wade Megan – Martin Frk
Trevor Daley – Mike Green
Dennis Cholowski – Niklas Kronwall
Jimmy Howard
Injuries; Jacob de La Rose (undisclosed), Jonathan Ericsson (undisclosed), Thomas Vanek (lower-body), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee)
Next. Top 5 Coaches In Wings’ History. dark
Game Information: