Time: 8:00 Eastern
Place: Gila River Arena – Glendale, AZ
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket // 98.7 FM
Coyotes Blog: Five for Howling
The Red Wings round out their road trip against the oft-rebuilding Arizona Coyotes, who yet again seem on the precipice of a long, hard rebuild. The Wings, who are still burning from a three-game losing streak, will look to make a big impact tonight against a struggling Arizona team.
In their last three games, Detroit has let in 15 goals. This is in no small part thanks to the defense, which has cratered over its last five games. In that span of time, they’ve allowed more goals than any other team. This is less than ideal.
Arizona sits squarely at the bottom of NHL standings, having won just two games on the season. The Seattle Kraken and St. Louis Blues are the only two teams to have lost to Arizona so far, and both underestimated the plucky rebuilders. Shayne Gostisbehere, the team’s leading scorer, has 13 points in 17 games for the club. He’s played a pivotal role in generating offense for Lawson Crowse and Phil Kessel. In order to take over against the Coyotes, the Red Wings need to focus on stifling his offensive efforts.
The last time these two teams clashed was all the way back in 2019. In those days, Jimmy Howard was the starter and the Wings were struggling to string together wins. If any of the latter half of that sounds familiar, welcome to the rebuild. You’re going to love it here.
This is a great chance for Detroit to snap its losing streak. Still, they should not underestimate the Coyotes, who have a chance to secure a win against a club lacking confidence. If Detroit can tighten up their loose ends and fight like they’re playing the Tampa Bay Lightning, they might just get a win here.