Win the battle along the boards. The Canucks spent a lot of time in their own zone and were dominated on the shot clock on Thursday in large part because they kept losing puck battles and spent a lot of time chasing the puck. They were burned by the Kings as a result and will be burned again tonight by a very talented Red Wings team if they can’t find a way to win those battles.

Zack makes good. Zack Kassian vowed on Thursday when he learned he would not get a chance to make his return that night that when he did come back he would make it impossible for the team to sit him out again. He gets his first chance to live up to his word tonight and you can bet he'll be energized and looking to make an impact after having to sit out for over a month.

Make it special. Detroit's specialty teams have been dominant all season long with both their PP and the PK sitting near the top of the league. Although they won't want to put their PK to work too often, the Red Wings, one of the league's least penalized teams, will want to take advantage of a Canucks team that can't stay out of the box or draw penalties lately.

DETROIT RED WINGS

CURRENT INJURIES (total games missed; current injury length)

Jonas Gustavsson – Shoulder (25; 11/7-present)
Jakub Kindl – Elbow (2; 12/29-present)
Individual Man Games Lost: Stephen Weiss (13), Pavel Datsyuk (11), Justin Abdelkader (7), Johan Franzen (7), Brendan Smith (5), Kyle Quincey (4), Jimmy Howard (3), Danny DeKeyser (2)
Man Games Lost (Season Total): 79

THE MATCHUP

-Tonight is the 166th all-time meeting between DET and VAN
-Tonight marks the 2nd of 2 meetings this season between DET and VAN, only meeting in VAN
- DET’s all-time record vs. VAN: 87-54-18-6
- DET’s all-time road record at VAN: 36-34-10-2
- DET has won 3 straight games vs. VAN, has points in 8 straight vs. VAN (6-0-2) and has points in 11 of its last 13 overall against VAN (9-2-2)
- DET won the 1st meeting of the season 5-3 vs. VAN at JLA. Kronwall, Nyquist, Datsyuk (2) and DeKeyser scored for DET; Vey (2) and Matthias scored for VAN
- Jimmy Howard is 12-5-2 with a 2.55 GAA and 0.913 SV% vs. VAN
- Justin Abdelkader has 8 points (6-2-8) in 16 games vs. VAN
- Pavel Datsyuk has 31 points (11-20-31) in 39 games vs. VAN
- Dan Cleary has 24 points (11-13-24) in 46 games vs. VAN
- Henrik Zetterberg has 31 points (13-18-31) in 40 games vs. VAN
- VAN’s all-time top scorers vs. DET: Daniel Sedin (19-25-44 in 48 GP), Henrik Sedin (8-35-43 in 50 GP) and Radim Vrbata (11-13-24 in 42 GP)
- VAN G Ryan Miller is the brother of DET’s Drew Miller and was 73-19-12 with a 1.54 GAA with the Michigan State Spartans from 1999-02
- Drew Miller is 7-1 all-time against Ryan with one point (0-1-1) and six shots on goal; Ryan Miller is 2-10-2 all-time vs. DET
- VAN C Shawn Matthias was drafted 47th overall by DET in 2006 and was traded with a 2nd round pick in 2007 (Nick Spaling) from DET to FLA in Feb. 2007 for Todd Bertuzzi
- VAN F Tom Sestito had 88 points (53-35-88) in 152 games with the OHL’s Plymouth Whalers from 2004-07

AMERICA’S FINEST

Tonight’s game brings together two of the all-time top American goaltenders, as Ryan Miller sits 3rd in that category in victories and Jimmy Howard 11th. Howard is three wins shy of cracking the top 10.

RECENT/UPCOMING MILESTONES

- Zetterberg had 2 points on 12/23 vs. BUF to give him his 749th and 750th NHL points
- Helm scored his 50th and 51st career NHL goals on 12/31 vs. NJ
- Kronwall is tied with Nick Libett for 18th in DET history with 250 assists
- Franzen is 2 games played shy of 600
- Nyquist is 3 goals away from 50
- Zetterberg is 3 games played from 800

THIS DATE IN RED WINGS HISTORY

January 3, 1981 – Reed Larson becomes the first Detroit defensemen to record a hat trick since Flash Hollett did so in 1944. Detroit has only had 3 hat tricks by defensemen in the last 10 years: Nicklas Lidstrom (12/15/10 vs. STL) and Mathieu Schneider (10/11/06 vs. PHX and 11/26/05 at SJ).

ON THE FARM

The Grand Rapids Griffins picked up in 2015 where they left off in 2014 with a 4-2 home win over the Milwaukee Admirals. The Griffins, who are 5-1-0-1 in their last 7 games, 7-1-1-1 in their last 10 home games and 14-5-2-1 since Nov. 12, got goals from Anthony Mantha (6), Landon Ferraro (11, 12) and Teemu Pulkkinen (19), who now stands 2nd in Griffins history with a seven-game goal streak and ranks 1st in the AHL with 19 goals and 2nd with 38 points. Next Game: 1/7 vs. Charlotte Checkers.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS

GAME PREVIEW: CANUCKS VS RED WINGS

The Canucks play the second of a five-game homestand tonight against Detroit...This marks the second and final meeting between the Canucks and Red Wings this season...Vancouver is 3-6-1 in the last 10 games played versus Detroit.
LAST TIME OUT
NOV. 30 - CANUCKS 3 at RED WINGS 5
Linden Vey recorded his first multi-goal and multi-point game (2-1-3) of his career…Shawn Matthias chipped in with a goal and an assist (1-1-2) for his first multi-point game since Apr. 12/14 at EDM…Ryan Miller made 25 saves on 29 shots in the loss…Alex Edler led all skaters with 27:36 TOI.

TEAM NOTES

WEST COAST FLAVOUR

The Vancouver Canucks are 10-3-2 record against their divisional opponents. Vancouver ranks t-1st in wins against the Pacific, alongside Arizona and Calgary. Only two other teams have registered more wins against a single division this season (Tampa Bay (11) and NY Rangers (11) against the Metropolitan) (through Jan. 2).

KILLER INSTINCT

The Canucks are currently 4th in the League with an 86.9% success rate on the penalty kill, having allowed 16 PPGA this season. On the road, the Canucks rank 3rd with an 88.3% kill rate. The Canucks have allowed 135 shots while on the penalty kill, which is t-3rd fewest in the NHL.

NEED TO KNOW (THROUGH Jan. 2)

Vancouver is t-2nd for the best road record in the League having recorded 26 points (12-6-2) in 20 road GP; the team has a +5 goal differential in those games.
Vancouver is 3rd with a .692 win percentage in one goal games (9-1-3).
Vancouver has outshot their opponents 22 times this season and have posted a record of 15-6-1 when doing so (0.682 W %); they are 6-6-2 when outshot by their opponents.•
Vancouver is t-7th in the NHL with a .750 win percentage when scoring first (15-3-2).
The Canucks 2.86 goals per game ranks 9th in the League; the Canucks have 103 goals for, currently t-13th most in the NHL; 59 of these goals have come on the road (3rd in the League).
The Canucks currently rank 13thin the League with 30.3 shots per game.