GAMEDAY PREVIEW Game 31: Detroit Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks & Projected Line Combos

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a tough one on Saturday night, 1-0, to the Philadelphia Flyers, a game in which they lost Alex Lyon to injury and had Ville Husso come in and ultimately kept them in the game, but the offense was unable to score. The Anaheim Ducks are coming in off a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils last night.

Detroit Red Wings (15-11-4, 34 Points) vs. Anaheim Ducks (11-19-0, 22 Points)

When: Monday, December 18
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Where: Little Caesars Arena (Detroit, MI)
TV: Bally Sports Detroit

Scoring Leaders

Detroit Red Wings

Points: Alex DeBrincat – 26
Goals: Alex DeBrincat – 13
Assists: Shayne Gostisbehere – 16

Anaheim Ducks

Points: Frank Vatrano – 23
Goals: Frank Vatrano – 14
Assists: Ryan Strome – 14

Expected Line Combinations

Detroit Red Wings

Joe Veleno – Dylan Larkin – Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat – J.T. Compher – Lucas Raymond
Michael Rasmussen – Andrew Copp – Robby Fabbri
Klim Kostin – Christian Fischer – Daniel Sprong

Jake Walman – Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot – Jeff Petry
Justin Holl – Shayne Gostisbehere

Anaheim Ducks

Alex Killorn – Ryan Strome – Troy Terry
Frank Vatrano – Adam Henrique – Brett Leason
Max Jones – Benoit-Olivier Groulx – Brock McGinn
Ross Johnston – Sam Carrick – Jakob Silfverberg

Cam Fowler – Jackson Lacombe
Pavel Mintyukov – Ilya Lyubushkin
Urho Vaakanainen – Radko Guas

By The Numbers:

League Ranking

Detroit Red Wings

PP%: 21.8 (13)
PK%: 78.8 (21)
GF P/G: 3.57 (4)
GA P/G: 3.17 (16)
Faceoff %: 48.7 (23)

Anaheim Ducks

PP%: 21.9 (12)
PK%: 80.6 (15)
GF P/G: 2.63 (29)
GA P/G: 3.40 (25)
Faceoff %: 48.2 (24)

Red Wings Player to Watch: Daniel Sprong

Sprong this season in 30 games, has 19 points on seven goals and 12 assists. He has four points on the power play, all coming on assists. He currently ranks fifth on the team in points. He has two points on a goal and an assist in his last five games.

Sprong’s Line Assignments

Fabbri will play on the fourth line tonight with Christian Fischer and Klim Kostin. He will also play on the second power-play unit with Robby Fabbri, Joe Veleno, Lucas Raymond, and Moritz Seider.

Sprong’s career vs. Anaheim

Sprong has played in six games against the Ducks in his career, and he has four points on three goals and one assist.

Between The Pipes

Detroit: Ville Husso (9-5-2, 3.47 GAA)

Husso’s last played on Saturday when he came in relief stopping all 18 shots he faced by the Flyers. Against the Ducks in his career, he is 4-0-1, allowing 12 goals on 139 shots.

Anaheim: Lukas Dostal (6-6-0, 3.93 GAA)

Dostal’s last appeared last night after Gibson left the game due to an illness, he stopped all ten shots he faced. In one game against Detroit in his career, he was 1-0-0, allowing three goals on 36 shots.

Wrap Up:

The Red Wings need to find a way to generate some offense. Saturday, they got J.T. Computer back but were unable to score. Tonight the Red Wings will get their captain Dylan Larkin back as well after he missed the last three games. The Ducks have struggled this year; since starting the season 7-4-0, they are 4-15-0; the Red Wings will need to capitalize against the bad teams if they want to stay in the playoff race, which is getting close with six five points or less behind Detroit.

The Red Wings, in their last ten games against Anaheim, are 5-2-3, and they’ve outscored them 26-24 in those games. The Red Wings last season went 1-0-1 against the Ducks and outscored them 7-4.

ITR 34: End Of The Road – Inside The Rink

 Join Conrad and Chris as they discuss the Boston Bruins front office, Logan Couture's retirement, Edmonton Oilers Injuries leading into the playoffs, and playoff matchups! 

1. ITR 34: End Of The Road 41:46
2. ITR 33: The Gr8 One 44:20
3. ITR 32: The Final Countdown 45:55
4. ITR 31: Let Them Fight 01:03:52
5. ITR 30: Down The Stretch 59:42