Time: 7:30 Eastern
Place: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: BSDET, BSW
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM
Ducks Blog: Anaheim Calling
Tonight the Ducks come to visit the Red Wings of Detroit, or maybe I should say Heartbreak City after last week. After looking like they were rallying a comeback versus Chicago, Detroit collapsed to the tune of 8-5. In the next game, Detroit gave up a game0tying goal in the third to the Penguins, although Detroit managed to close out Pittsburgh in the shootout. Then Detroit dominated Toronto for most of Saturday’s game, but ended up losing 7-4 after taking a 4-2 lead into the third.
So the team has gotta be feeling salty right now. The fans sure are. What is sure to make us all even edgier is that the Ducks have Trevor Zegras on the roster, who was chosen to the All-Star Game over Lucas Raymond or Mo Seider. That’s really frustrating. But it’s not what matters tonight. What matters tonight is winning a regular season game against an old rival, a rivalry that is mostly burnt out since Ryan Getzlaf is basically the only guy left on either team from the bloody days between these two clubs.
The Ducks find themselves in a playoff position at this midpoint of the season, which is a bit surprising, or totally not surprising depending on when you remembered that the Edmonton Oilers can string together momentum about as well as my cat can leave cheese alone. Leading the way is Troy Terry with 41 points in 42 games. On defense they’re led by Kevin Shattenkirk and Cam Fowler. Of course, they’ve still got Hampus Lindholm to round out a solid, if aging top three. (Well, Lindholm isn’t too old, but the other two are on the wrong side of 30 and yet both younger than me and now I’m sad.)
Detroit had the Toronto game in the bag and were inconsistent but potent against Chicago and Pittsburgh. If they can take the best parts of all three games, they should be able to give the Ducks all they can handle tonight and more. If they can get it together.