Happy Thursday! Red Wings fans collectively held their breath after reading this one:
Per Jeff Blashill, Dylan Larkin and Darren Helm are game-time decisions for Red Wings tonight at Dallas.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) January 28, 2021
The Red Wings cannot take any more holes in the lineup at this point. After falling to Dallas 2-1 in overtime on Tuesday, Detroit wraps up its two-game set with the Stars tonight. There were certainly some positive signs already that the Red Wings tweeted out that both Givani Smith and Taro Hirose are out of the taxi squad. The two on a line with Michael Rasmussen was fun to watch and it would also be great to see Mathias Brome back on the top line. Off to the bullet points:
3 Reasons for Hope
- Larkin plays. Pretty straightforward
- The power play, especially the second unit, continues to show some momentum. Though they didn’t score , it was clicking where there were a couple high danger scoring chances. If Larkin is indeed out, here’s hoping either Rasmussen or Hirose gets extra time on the man advantage.
- They didn’t play terrible on Tuesday. It was a more defensive minded game, a check and balance type that was “whoever makes the first mistake first” loses contest. We know how it ended but they hung in there with the Stanley Cup runner up.
2 Reasons for Doom and Gloom
- Larkin sits. Again, pretty straightforward.
- It’s another game with little to no secondary scoring. Vladislav Namestnikov‘s first of the season was a great start, but there needs to be more and in bunches.
1 Final Thought
I would love to see Anthony Mantha get some open looks and convert. It’s isn’t just about the goal scoring, but it stands to reason that it might just be one of those things that gets stuck in your head, too.