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The Detroit Red Wings commence a four-game homestand tonight when they host the New Jersey Devils at the Joe Louis Arena. Detroit (6-3-4, 5th in Atlantic) will be looking to regain some positive momentum after a disappointing 0-2-1 road trip this past week. Similar to a week ago on Halloween, Detroit should have the advantage of facing a road weary team in the Devils who are playing their 3rd game in 4 nights. They travelled on Wednesday from Newark to St. Louis and then arrived in Detroit overnight after a hard-fought home-and home series with the Blues.
One constant thus far this season for the Red Wings has been the play of goaltender
Jimmy Howard. He will get the start in goal tonight for Detroit and will likely be given a chance to really carry the load for the next month or so with
Jonas Gustavsson shelved with a dislocated/separated shoulder. Although
Petr Mrazek will surely get some playing time, his slow start to the season in Grand Rapids may force Coach
Mike Babcock to carefully select his spots in resting Howard. With 11 games remaining in the month of November, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Howard start 10 of those contests, given the fact Detroit does not play on consecutive nights until the weekend of December 6th and 7th.
Babcock has elected to go with the same lineup tonight with both
Daniel Cleary and
Andrej Nestrasil remaining in the lineup in place for
Joakim Andersson and
Tomas Jurco.
Meanwhile, the Devils arrived in Detroit overnight coming off the heels of a 4-3 loss in St. Louis last night. Injuries appear to be piling up to some key players for the Devils (6-5-2, 5th in Metropolitan Division) early on this season. New Jersey placed defenseman
Jon Merrill on injured reserve retroactive to November 1st. Merrill, who is not with the team on this road trip, was slashed during Saturday's home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He joins a growing list of injured Devils players.
Ryane Clowe left Thursday night's 4-3 loss in St. Louis when he was hurt during the first period. It is unknown if Clowe will play this evening. Martin Havlat (lower body), Mike Cammalleri (head), Adam Henrique (lower body) and Jordin Tootoo (foot) have also been sidelined. Tootoo stated he is available to return and might step in if Clowe is unable to go while Henrique is considered “day-to-day”.
On the injury front for the Wings,
Kyle Quincey is hopeful to return to the lineup on Sunday night when Detroit hosts Tampa Bay. A telling sign indicating his return will be a roster move to free up a spot on the roster. The easiest move at this time for GM
Ken Holland would be to send forward
Tomas Jurco down to Grand Rapids for further seasoning after a slow start to the campaign. In addition to the fact he is the lone waiver-eligible player currently on the roster, Jurco would not be hurt at this point by going back to Grand Rapids for a stint to play heavy minutes on the top line and recapture his confidence.
The workhorse in goal this season for the Devils has been
Cory Schneider (6-4-2, 2.75 GAA, .910 save%) and he is expected to once again be between the pipes for New Jersey. Goalie
Keith Kinkaid possibly was in line to make his first NHL start in this game. However, he was called on in relief of Schneider in St. Louis last night in the third period.
Here are tonight's expected forward lines and pairings:
DETROIT RED WINGS
Nyquist – Zetterberg - Franzen
Tatar – Datsyuk - Abdelkader
Nestrasil – Sheahan - Helm
Miller – Glendening – Cleary
Kronwall - Ericsson
Quincey - DeKeyser
Smith – Kindl
Howard
(Mrazek)
Andersson (scratch)
Jurco (scratch)
Weiss (groin)
Quincey (ankle)
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
Ryane Clowe - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr
Dainius Zubrus - Patrik Elias - Michael Ryder
Damien Brunner - Jacob Josefson - Steve Bernier
Tuomo Ruutu - Stephen Gionta - Mike Sislo
Andy Greene-Damon Severson
Bryce Salvador-Marek Zidlicky
Eric Gelinas-Adam Larsson.
Cory Schneider.
Adam Henrique (lower-body)
Mike Cammalleri (possible head injury)
Martin Havlat (lower-body injury)
Jordin Tootoo (bruised left foot)
Jon Merrill (arm/hand).
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