The Detroit Red Wings head back out on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. The Red Wings are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday, while the Penguins are coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the Maple Leafs on Monday.
Detroit Red Wings (38-32-8, 84 Points) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (36-30-12, 84 Points)
When: Thursday, April 11
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh, PA)
TV: Bally Sports Detroit
Scoring Leaders
Detroit Red Wings
Points: Lucas Raymond – 64
Goals: Dylan Larkin – 31
Assists: Shayne Gostisbehere – 40
Pittsburgh Penguins
Points: Sidney Crosby – 86
Goals: Sidney Crosby – 40
Assists: Sidney Crosby – 46
Expected Line Combinations
Detroit Red Wings
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Larkin – Lucas Raymond
David Perron – J.T. Compher – Patrick Kane
Robby Fabbri – Joe Veleno – Daniel Sprong
Zach Aston-Reese – Austin Czarnik – Christian Fischer
Ben Chiarot – Moritz Seider
Jeff Petry – Simon Edvinsson
Olli Maatta – Shayne Gostisbehere
Pittsburgh Penguins
Drew O’Connor – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting – Evgeni Malkin – Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith – Lars Eller – Valtteri Puustinen
Emil Bemstrom – Jeff Carter – Jesse Puljujarvi
Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson – Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea – Jack St. Ivany
For More NHL Stats, Visit stats.insidetherink.com!
By The Numbers:
League Ranking
Detroit Red Wings
PP%: 22.9 (9)
PK%: 79.7 (14)
GF P/G: 3.28 (9)
GA P/G: 3.27 (24)
Faceoff %: 50.5 (14)
Pittsburgh Penguins
PP%: 14.3 (31)
PK%: 80.7 (11)
GF P/G: 3.01 (20)
GA P/G: 2.95 (11)
Faceoff %: 54.8 (1)
Red Wings Player to Watch: Patrick Kane
Kane this season has played in 46 games, and he has recorded 44 points on 20 goals and 24 assists. He has 14 points on the power play on two goals and 12 assists.
Kane’s Line Assignments
Kane is on the second line playing with David Perron and J.T. Compher. He is also on the top power-play unit with Perron, Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin, and Shayne Gostisbehere.
Kane’s career vs. Penguins
Kane in his career against Pittsburgh has played in 23 games and has recorded 29 points on seven goals and 22 assists. In the only matchup against the Penguins this season he played in he had an assist.
Between The Pipes
Detroit: Alex Lyon (20-18-4, 2.96 GAA)
Lyon last played on Tuesday against the Capitals, and he took the loss giving up two goals on 23 shots. In his career against the Penguins, he is 1-1-1, he lost his matchup earlier this season giving up five goals on 37 shots.
Pittsburgh: Alex Nedeljkovic (16-6-7, 2.82 GAA)
Nedeljkovic last played on Monday against the Maple Leafs, and he took the loss in overtime giving up three goals on 23 shots. In his career against his former team, he is 3-0-0, with one of those wins coming back on March 17th when he stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced.
Wrap Up
This game tonight is a must-win game for the Red Wings. They are one point behind the Capitals and are tied with the Penguins in points, if they lose tonight they’ll fall two points behind Pittsburgh with three games left, of those three games they face the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens twice which both of those games against the Canadiens are winnable but they feel much better to head into with a win tonight and being able to control your destiny instead of needing help.
In their last ten games against the Penguins, Detroit is 4-5-1, and have been outscored 49-31 in those ten games. Detroit has split the season series with Pittsburgh entering this game.
