Octopus Thrower
Fansided

Detroit Red Wings conclude homestand vs Tampa Bay Lightning

By Bob Heyrman

TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 18: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (77) keeps his eye on the puck well being hit by Detroit Red Wings right wing Anthony Mantha (39) in the second period of the regular season NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning on October 18, 2018 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - OCTOBER 18: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman (77) keeps his eye on the puck well being hit by Detroit Red Wings right wing Anthony Mantha (39) in the second period of the regular season NHL game between the Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning on October 18, 2018 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. (Photo by Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Detroit Red Wings will finish up their homestand tonight as they square off against the high-powered offense of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Detroit Red Wings will face quite the test over the next two games.  Tonight the team will try to neutralize Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.  I will not get any easier Thursday when the club travels four hours down the 401 to face the Leafs in Toronto.

An important note here, the Tampa Bay Lightning have beaten the Detroit Red Wings each of the last 12 meetings.  That is what you call dominating an opponent.

It would be a real good test to see exactly where this Wings team is, but unfortunately, the team will be missing a few key pieces.  It would be wishful thinking to assume the Wings will take care of business at home tonight and roll into Toronto and mow down the leafs but we can all dream.

The Detroit Red Wings will be without the services of Tyler Bertuzzi tonight as he is serving the first of a two-game suspension for punching Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Calvert.  Bertuzzi hit Calvert after Calvert clearly speared Bertuzzi when he couldn’t shake his stick loose from the Wings bench.

More from Octopus Thrower

It is a shame to lose Bert because not only as he been a great energy guy for the Wings, he has been on an offensive tear of late.  Bert has 16 points in 27games this season and more importantly 8 points over his last 10 games.

The Wings will be without the services of Anthony Mantha for 4-6 weeks.  Mantha broke his hand in a fight against the Avalanche.  Mantha was sticking up for Dylan Larkin who’s face was driven violently into the glass by the forearm of Patrick Nemeth.  Mantha promptly scrapped with Nemeth and apparently broke his hand for the second time in his career during a fight.  He will leave a giant hole in the Detroit Red Wings lineup.

Martin Frk had been a healthy scratch over the past two games in which the Wings decided to dress enforcer Luke Witkowski.  In the absence of Bert, we expect Witkowski to remain in the lineup and Frk drawing yet another opportunity over the next two games.

We spoke about Steven Stamkos earlier in the post; he is not having a Stamkos type season YET.  I stress yet because the scoring ability he possesses always has an opportunity to start to boil.  He has only been able to notch 9 goals and 16 assists this season through his first 28 games. That is way low for a player of his caliber.  Let’s hope he stays cold for another night.

Nikita Kucherov, on the other hand, has fared much better this season for the Lightning.  The sniper has buried 13 goals this season, similar to Stamkos a lower number than I would have expected at this point in the season but Kucherov has 28 assists.

Although the Lightning are not getting the usual production from their captain, they still see themselves at the top of the Atlantic Division, looking down at the competition.  Brayden Point leads the Lightning with 20 goals.  Point has come into his own and is a difference maker for the team.  Tampa has lost their Vezina Trophy caliper starting goaltender Vasileskey and haven’t missed a beat.  He is out with a broken ankle, and yet Tampa continues to win.

The Detroit Red Wings expected lineup:

Justin Abdelkader (A) – Dylan Larkin (A) – Gustav Nyquist

Andreas Athanasiou – Frans Nielsen (A) – Thomas Vanek

Jacob de La Rose – Luke Glendening – Michael Rasmussen

Martin Frk – Christoffer Ehn

Niklas Kronwall (A) – Mike Green

Danny DeKeyser – Nick Jensen

Dennis Cholowski – Jonathan Ericsson

Luke Witkowski

Jimmy Howard

Jonathan Bernier

Healthy Scratch; none

Suspension: Tyler Bertuzzi

Injuries: Trevor Daley (lower-body), Darren Helm (upper-body), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee), Anthony Mantha ( Hand surgery)

Next. Detroit Red Wings: Chris Osgood Waits for Call to the Hall. dark

Game Information:

Detroit Red Wings 12-12-3 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning 20-7-1
Time: 7:30 EST
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, SunSports, Fox Sports Go, NHL.TV, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
OddsShark Odds- Fav. Tampa -180
Head to Head last 10- Tampa Bay 10-0-0

Home/Red Wings News