Gameday Updates
Morning Skate…
#Preds Head Coach John Hynes says Ryan Johansen (IR) will play tonight against Detroit. Brad Richardson (IR) will not play tonight. #NSHvsDET
— Brooks Bratten (@brooksbratten) February 23, 2021
Projected Lineups
Detroit Red Wings
#RedWings lines at practice:
Mantha-Larkin-Helm
Ryan-Fabbri-Zadina
Filppula-Namestnikov-Nielsen/Gagner rotating
Brome-Glendening-Erne
Svechnikov extra
D pairs:
DeKeyser-Hronek
Staal-Merrill
Nemeth-Djoos
Biega pic.twitter.com/YQ9ZQLLcis— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) February 22, 2021
Well, perhaps Jeff Blashill could give Evgeny Svechnikov a look on the third line instead of the guy that just cleared waivers?
#RedWings power-play units:
1. Larkin (net front), Brome (bumper), Mantha-Ryan (flanks), Djoos (point).
2. Erne (net front), Filppula (bumper), Fabbri-Zadina (flanks), Hronek (point).
Power play is 0 for 35 over past 12 games. pic.twitter.com/syadffti0d— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) February 22, 2021
I know who might give this powerplay a boost — SVECHNIKOV!
Nashville Predators
Forwards
Filip Forsberg – Mikael Granlund – Viktor Arvidsson
Calle Jarnkrok – Matt Duchene – Rocco Grimaldi
Nick Cousins – Ryan Johansen- Eeli Tolvanen
Erik Haula – Colton Sissons – Luke Kunin
Defense
Roman Josi – Ryan Ellis
Ben Harpur – Dante Fabbro
Mark Borowiecki – Matt Benning
Goalies
Juuse Saros
Pekka Rinne
Keys to the Game
Strong Start
In three of the last four Red Wings games, the team that scored first went on to win the game, which puts more emphasis on the Wings getting off to a good start early on. It’s clear the Wings are still very much cemented in their rebuild, but what I appreciate more in this season than the last has been their resilience after a tough loss. We saw this on Saturday night where they could have folded following a 7-2 loss and started an ugly spiral for the foreseeable future, but played hard and bounced back with a 2-1 win.
Solidify the Crease
What we got from Jonathan Bernier on Saturday night was a brick wall effort, stopping 38-of-39 shots to lift the Wings to victory. They will need another strong effort in net tonight to catapult their confidence. Neither Bernier or Thomas Greiss have been stellar to this point on the year and the Wings will need better goaltending moving forward if they want to compete in more hockey games.
Score on the Powerplay
It sounds simple enough, but this team badly needs a goal on the man advantage — when are they going to get that monkey off their back? Somebody has to channel their inner Tomas Holmstrom to scratch and claw in front of that net, hopefully getting a bounce or two their way. I’d like to see Anthony Mantha use his size more often and make life hard on the Preds’ netminder tonight.