A quick flight from Detroit (I was going to say they head down the 401 but...come on) and boy are the the Red Wings arms tired. Hey, don't stop believing in my ability to do this preview.
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Detroit Red Wings
7:00PM / Air Canada Centre
TV: TSN4 / TSN1050
SBN: Winging it in Motown
Okay, so when I wrote that Ilitch joke i thought the game was in Detroit, but I like it too much to leave it out. The Maple Leafs are, not doing so hot this season so far. They'll lose games, then win one, then lose a few more, and win one, and it goes on and on and on and on.
It's the Hall of Fame Game tonight, so we'll see former Red Wings captain Nick Lidstrom in the arena, as well as other HHoF inductees such as Columbus Blue Jacket Sergei Federov, Maple Leafs legend Phil Housley, and current Arizona Coyote Chris Pronger. Angela Ruggiero, Peter Karmanos Jr. and Bill Hay are the non-NHLers being honoured as well. Rich Clune is on waivers and we should see Scott Harrington in tonight's game.
Maple Leafs last game:
The Leafs went and lost to the Jets, which, hey thanks guys, you jerks. Reimer was ok, just ok. The defense was lacking and, as is the story this year, the offense wasn't enough. You can read JP's recap here.
Red Wings last game:
The Red Wings had a close victory of the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. WIIM's recap had the Wings playing well throughout the game, and if the Wings can keep things as close as they have been, they can easily out shoot the Leafs and win the game.
Last Leafs / Red Wings game:
The red Wings ran circles around the Leafs and Justin Abdekader scored a hat trick. Bernier was bad and the SBN Editor did not want me to write the recap.
Projected Line Ups:
Maple Leafs
James van Riemsdyk - Nazem Kadri - Leo Komarov
Shawn Mattias - Tyler Bozak - P.A. Parenteau
Daniel Winnik - Nick Spaling - Joffrey Lupul
Michael Grabner - Byron Froese - Brad Boyes
Jake Gardiner - Dion Phaneuf
Matt Hunwick - Morgan Rielly
Scott Harrington - Roman Polak
Red Wings
Dylan Larkin - Henrik Zetterberg - Justin Abdelkader
Tomas Tatar - Riley Sheahan - Gustav Nyquist
Joakim Andersson - Darren Helm - Tomas Jurco
Drew Miller - Luke Glendening - Landon Ferraro
Niklas Kronwall - Brendan Smith
Danny DeKeyser - Jonathan Ericsson
Jakub Kindl - Alexey Marchenko
Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard
Morning chatter
All quiet out there except for Clune going on waivers, and Babcock being a big egotistical jerk.
My thought:
Does Joe Louis arena sell Jos Louis'?