GAME DAY @ Sharks
Following a four-day break, the Red Wings will take on the San Jose Sharks tonight at the Shark Tank. The Sharks have lost only once in regulation on home ice and sit second in the Pacific Division standings. The Sharks are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday and are 6-4-0 over their last ten games.
The Red Wings are 4-5-1 in their last ten games and beat the Dallas Star 5-1 on Saturday night. The game against Dallas was the first of a five game stint away from The Joe. The games away from home should come as a blessing to the Wings who have struggled in Detroit so far this season.
The Wings are seven points behind the Habs, one point ahead of the Leafs, and two points ahead of the Sens in a tight divisional race. The benefit that the Wings have is that they have two games in hand on both the Canadiens and the Senators as well as one game in hand on the Maple Leafs. Detroit can’t afford to squander these games in hand, instead they need to come out of their western swing with as many points as they can to catch the third place Habs and put some distance between them and the teams behind them.
San Jose will be missing Logan Couture and rookie Tomas Hertl but the Sharks still have plenty of firepower with three players (Marleau, Vlasic, Pavelski) and one goalie (Antti Niemi) in the lineup who will be making the trip to Sochi to compete for their respective Olympic teams.
Jimmy Howard will be getting the start tonight following a 44 save performance in Dallas on Saturday. Howard has looked good in the first two games of 2014 and hopefully has found his footing after an uncharacteristically poor first half of the season. When the Sharks and Wings last met at Joe Louis Arena in October, Howard blanked the Sharks through 65 minutes and made 27 saves before losing in a shootout.
Pavel Datsyuk will be out of the lineup again tonight, but Darren Helm could return. Helm has not played since December 30th in Nashville. Defenseman Danny DeKeyser will also make his return after missing last game with a groin injury.
PROJECTED LINES (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)
RED WINGS
Nyquist – Zetterberg – Alfredsson Miller – Abdelkader – Bertuzzi Samuelsson – Andersson – Tatar Cleary – Glendening – Eaves
Kronwall – Smith DeKeyser – Quincey Lashoff – Kindl
Jimmy Howard (starting) Petr Mrazek
Injuries: Datsyuk, Helm, Weiss, Ericsson, Franzen
SHARKS
Pavelski – Thornton – Burns Kearns – Marleau – Nieto Sheppard – Desjardins – Hamilton Hayes – McCarthy – Brown
Boyle – Vlasic Demers – Stuart Braun – Irwin
Antti Niemi (Starting) Alex Stalock
Injuries: Hertl, Torres, Burish, Wingels, Couture