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The Pittsburgh Penguins head to Detroit to take on the Red Wings in the battle of the walking wounded.
The Penguins lead the NHL in man games lost with 419 and the Red Wings have the 2nd most man games lost with 323.
The Detroit Red Wings are in a dog fight for one of the last remaining playoff spots. Their regulation win over Toronto was huge the other day.
The Red Wings have 3 games in hand on Toronto and another win tonight against the Penguins would do wonders for their playoff hopes.
Detroit is missing players like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Jonathan Ericsson but they continue to compete. Don’t look for the Red Wings to roll over.
Mike Babcock spoke today:
Babcock: "We know they're going to have the puck more than we are tonight. We have to make the most of it when we have it."
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) March 20, 2014I respect Mr. Babcock but I’m not sure I agree with his assessment. His team has done just fine dealing with the injuries as it has pertained to the puck possession department:
Red Wings have been solid as a rock all season long.
They have been really good as of late, although it should be noted that they have had games against Toronto and Edmonton, two of the basement dwellers in the possession department.
One of the bigger reasons why I think Detroit finds themselves in a fight for the playoffs is because of their goaltending. Last season the Red Wings had an EVSV% of .933% and this season it has dropped to .920%. A lot of that has to do with Jimmy Howard. This year he has dealt with some injuries and that may have something to do with this EVSV% falling from .937% last year all the way to .921% this year.
How excited is Sidney Crosby to play a game in Detroit in which he will not have to deal with Henrik Zetterberg or Nicklas Lidstrom following him around wherever he goes?
The Penguins will most likely be sticking with their lines from last game. Here were the combos from the morning skate:
Kunitz-Crosby-Stempniak Jokinen-Malkin-Neal Glass-Goc-Vitale Gibbons-Sutter-Adams
Orpik-Niskanen Scuderi-Maatta Bortuzzo-Despres
Engelland-Letang
Marc Andre Fleury will be starting in net.
Letang travelled with the team and he seems to be getting fully involved in practice:
Letang just got hit in the face by a puck. Then Sid shoves him into the boards. Letang said he wanted some contact. Starting to get it.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) March 20, 2014Thanks for reading!
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