Red Wings – Capitals Preview: Hello Again Anthony Mantha

The Detroit Red Wings lace up the skates against the Washington Capitals (7pm tonight, Bally Sports Detroit) and it will be a reunion of sorts. With how the schedule was last season, the Red Wings never got a chance to play Washington following their trade of Anthony Mantha. Now they will and it should provide some excitement to see how Mantha plays against his former mates.

In six games this season Mantha has four points with two goals. The Capitals are 4-0-2 and sit atop the Met so it’s fair to expect the game to be one that favors Washington. The Red Wings come in off of a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks which saw Lucas Raymond notch four points and a hat trick. Mantha’s old linemates in fact have found Raymond to be quite the asset in his place.

Red Wings Probables

Back in the lineup will be Filip Hronek, who was absent for the last two games as a healthy scratch. Head coach Jeff Blashill wouldn’t divulge the reasons for the scratch other than it being a private matter between coach and player. Regardless, Hronek appears to be back in the lineup after yesterday’s skate:

Khan also indicated that he was working in with the second power play unit. Gustav Lindstrom will be out–though this appears to be injury related.

How will the Red Wings respond?

Washington is certainly better than Chicago and Montreal, with the latter pasting Detroit 6-1. However, Tyler Bertuzzi was not on the ice against the Habs and his return boosted the Wings’ offense on Sunday against the lowly Blackhawks.

Raymond is the player to watch–how does he follow up the four point performance against a more polished team? Raymond has been everything Detroit fans could hope for, and it will be fun to see him on the line that Mantha was once on–and see if that new (and quite improved) line can continue to carry the team.

The Red Wings did see a couple goals away from the line from Carter Rowney, and Vladislav Namestnikov. But with Bertuzzi netting his sixth goal of the season, the Red Wings will definitely need some secondary scoring if they want to be more successful against the Capitals.