Detroit Red Wings look to stay on the winning side of things tonight
By Bob Heyrman
The Washington Capitals roll into Motown looking to end a three-game losing skid tonight at 5 pm. The Detroit Red Wings won their first game in the seven on Friday night against the Preds. They look to stay on the winning side of things this evening.
It was a stretch of dark, gloomy hockey if you are a fan or associated with the Detroit Red Wings. December was anything but kind to the team, and January started the same way. Friday night the Wings played a heck of a game and were able to finish it on a high, in overtime.
Dylan Larkin scored his fourth overtime game-winning goal of the season. It is a new record for OT winners in franchise history for the Wings. Larkin continues to impress; the 22-year-old is on pace to eclipse the 30 goal mark, something no Detroit Red Wings player has achieved since 2009. His career year could end with 80 points well in range, and I believe he is still scratching the surface of what he will be in the future.
The Capitals beat up on the Wings in D.C when the pair of teams locked horns on December. 11th. The Caps skated to a 6-2 victory. The Caps have Detroit’s number of late. Over the last ten games, the Caps have a record of 8-0-1-1 against the Wings.
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Washington is led by captain Alex Ovechkin. He’s recorded 30 goals and 46 points which are both tops on the team for each category. Ov is also a plus 10 on the season. It’s crazy to think he’s on pace for a 60 goal season at the age of 33.
He’s the best goal-scorer of this generation and will have a real opportunity to chase down Wayne Gretzky to be the all-time leading goal scorer. He also leads all Caps forwards playing 21:08 TOI on average a night. He’s recorded 160 shots on goal, the next closest on the team is Kutznetzov with 93.
Brayden Holtby is having a good season but not a Vezina type season that he is used to producing for the Caps. He’s 15-10-2 with a 2.92 GAA, and .910% Save percentage.
The Detroit Red Wings have gotten a bit healthy of late with the returns of Mantha and Helm. I like the lineup adjustments that Jeff Blashill made last game, and it seemed to work nicely. Bertuzzi played up with Larks and Gus. The line was active all evening against the Preds. Any line Larkin is centering will produce.
The second line of Vanek, Nielsen, and Mantha was really rolling. Mantha looked like he was interested in keeping his feet moving all night, he was playing hard in all three zones and especially down low on the wall. He creates space for his linemates. I would like to see AA play on that line rather than Vanek. I think with AA and Mantha flanking the crafty, veteran defensive-minded center Nielsen they could be an above average second line.
The Detroit Red Wings projected lineup;
Tyler Bertuzzi – Dylan Larkin (A) – Gustav Nyquist
Thomas Vanek – Frans Nielsen (A) – Anthony Mantha
Andreas Athanasiou – Luke Glendening – Darren Helm
Michael Rasmussen – Jacob de La Rose – Justin Abdelkader (A)
Niklas Kronwall (A) – Nick Jensen
Dennis Cholowski – Luke Witkowski
Jonathan Ericsson – Filip Hronek
Healthy Scratch: Christoffer Ehn, Martin Frk, Brian Lashoff
Injuries: Mike Green (lower-body), Danny DeKesyer (Hand), Trevor Daley (lower-body), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee)
Next. Detroit Red Wings New Year’s Resolutions. dark
Game Information:
Detroit Red Wings 16-20-7 vs. Washington Capitals 24-12-4
Time: 5:00 EST
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, NBCSW, Fox Sports Go, NHL.TV, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
OddsShark Odds- Fav. Caps -165