The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a loss to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday night. The Predators are also coming in off a loss as they dropped their game to the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night 5-2.
Detroit Red Wings (16-15-4, 36 Points) vs. Nashville Predators (19-16-0, 38 Points)
When: Friday, December 29th
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, MI)
TV: Bally Sports Detroit
Scoring Leaders
Detroit Red Wings
Points: Alex DeBrincat – 34
Goals: Alex DeBrincat – 16
Assists: Shayne Gostisbehere – 19
Nashville Predators
Points: Filip Forsberg – 38
Goals: Filip Forsberg – 16
Assists: Filip Forsberg – 22
Expected Line Combinations
Detroit Red Wings
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Patrick Kane
David Perron – J.T. Compher – Lucas Raymond
Michael Rasmussen – Andrew Copp – Robby Fabbri
Jonatan Berggren – Austin Czarnik – Daniel Sprong
Jake Walman – Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Olli Maatta – Shayne Gostisbehere
Nashville Predators
Filip Forsberg – Ryan O’Reilly – Gustav Nyquist
Kiefer Sherwood – Tommy Novak – Luke Evangelista
Jusso Parssinen – Cody Glass – Colton Sissons
Cole Smith – Michael McCarron – Philip Tomasino
Ryan McDonagh – Roman Josi
Jeremy Lauzon – Alexandre Carrier
Luke Schenn – Dante Fabbro
By The Numbers:
League Ranking
Detroit Red Wings
PP%: 22.0 (13)
PK%: 79.8 (16)
GF P/G: 3.51 (5)
GA P/G: 3.40 (24)
Faceoff %: 49.0 (21)
Nashville Predators
PP%: 20.6 (16)
PK%: 75.9 (25)
GF P/G: 3.09 (18)
GA P/G: 3.11 (15)
Faceoff %: 48.8 (22)
Red Wings Player to Watch: Daniel Sprong
This season, Sprong has played in 35 games and has recorded 22 points on nine goals and 13 assists. He has five points on a goal and four assists on the power play. He has three points on two goals and an assist in his last three games.
Sprong’s Line Assignments
Sprong will play on the fourth line with Austin Czarnik and Jonatan Berggren. He also will play on the second power play with Robby Fabbri, Lucas Raymond, David Perron, and Moritz Seider.
Sprong’s career vs. Nashville
Sprong, in his career, has faced the Predators eight times and has recorded five points coming on four goals and one assist. Last season against Nashville, in three games, he had two points, with both coming on goals.
Between The Pipes
Detroit: Alex Lyon (4-3-0, 2.14 GAA)
Lyon is returning from an injury he suffered in his last start, which came against the Philadelphia Flyers on December 16th, in which he allowed one goal on 15 shots. He has never faced the Predators in his career.
Nashville: Jusse Saros (15-13-0, 2.94 GAA) / Kevin Lankinen (4-3-0, 3.16 GAA) / Yaroslav Askarov (0-0-0, 0.00 GAA)
Saros’ last start came on Wednesday against the Hurricanes, in which he suffered a loss, giving up five goals on 19 shots. In his career against Detroit, he is 7-2-0, allowing 15 goals on 265 shots.
Lankinen’s last appearance came on December 19th against Vancouver, in which he came in relief and stopped all 11 shots he faced. He has faced the Red Wings six times in his career, going 4-2-0, allowing ten goals on 188 shots.
Askar came in, in relief of Saros on Wednesday, and stopped all six shots he faced in his season debut for the Predators. He has never faced Detroit in his career.
Wrap Up
The Red Wings have to find a way to stop their current slide, as they have dropped nine of their last 11 and have managed only five points in those 11 games. The offense has been there, as they have averaged three goals a game during this rough stretch. The issue has been on the defense and the goaltending; it may be time to shuffle some things up. It also hasn’t helped that their top two goalies have been out with injuries and haven’t played since December 16th for Alex Lyon and December 18th for Ville Husso; Lyon, however, is back tonight.
In their last ten games against Nashville, the Red Wings are 2-7-1 and have been outscored 34-16 in those ten games. The Red Wings last season went 1-1-0 against the Predators and outscored them 4-2.
