Puck drops just after 7:30pm ET
via NHL.com,
TV: NHLN-US, TVA Sports, SN360, FS-D, SUN
Season series: The Tampa Bay Lightning have won the first two games against the Detroit Red Wings, including a 4-3 shootout victory at Joe Louis Arena in early November. Rookie center Cedric Paquette had the first hat trick of his career in Tampa Bay's 5-1 win at Amalie Arena on Jan. 29.
Red Wings team scope: Detroit has lost five of its past seven games and is six points behind Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division following a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Forward Erik Cole scored for the second time in three games after being held without a goal in his first five with the Red Wings following a trade with the Dallas Stars on March 1. Goalie Jimmy Howard is expected to start after Petr Mrazek got the call the past two games, including a 5-1 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. Howard allowed seven goals on 36 shots against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. "We took a step forward against Pittsburgh," captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "We didn't play bad [against Florida], we just have to come back strong [Friday]." Center Riley Sheahan had an assist on Cole's goal; he has five points (two goals, three assists) in the past five games. Center Pavel Datsyuk (lower body) didn't play Thursday and won't dress against Tampa Bay.
Lightning team scope: Forward Ondrej Palat practiced Thursday and could return to the Tampa Bay lineup. Palat, who has 15 goals and 37 assists in 64 games, initially was expected to be out as long as three weeks because of a lower-body injury he sustained blocking a shot March 10 against the Montreal Canadiens. "We thought Palat could be back this weekend, so if it's tomorrow, I guess that is a little ahead," coach Jon Cooper told the Lightning website after practice. "We thought [Sunday against the Boston Bruins] was kind of a game we thought he might be back, so I guess if he comes back two days earlier, that's good for us." Tampa Bay, which will play nine games in 16 days, is 1-1-1 since Palat's injury. Paquette (upper body), who also has missed the past three games, hopes to return sometime in the next week. Like Palat, he wore a red, no-contact jersey at practice. "We'll see how it feels tomorrow and Saturday and go from there," Paquette said. Center Steven Stamkos has four points (three goals) in the past three games.
TEAM STATS
|
GP |
RECORD |
HOME |
ROAD |
L10 |
G/GP |
GA/GP |
PP% |
PK% |
PIM/GP |
S/GP |
SA/GP |
FO% |
|---|
 |
69 |
38-20-11 |
19-7-7 |
19-13-4 |
5-5-0 |
2.87 |
2.56 |
25.1 |
81.2 |
8.6 |
29.9 |
28.4 |
52.6 |
 |
71 |
43-21-7 |
27-7-1 |
16-14-6 |
6-3-1 |
3.21 |
2.52 |
18.4 |
83.2 |
9.9 |
29.7 |
27.7 |
49.5 |
DETROIT RED WINGS
THE MATCHUP
- Tonight marks the 40th all-time meeting between DET and TB
- Tonight marks the 3rd of 4 meetings this season between DET and TB, 2nd of 2 in TB
- DET’s all-time record vs. TB: 26-8-2-3
- DET’s all-time road record at TB: 12-6-1-1
- DET lost the 1st meeting of the season series, 4-3 in a shootout on 11/9 (Franzen, Helm and Nyquist scored for DET; Stamkos [2] and Johnson scored for TB, Carle scored SO winner)
- TB won the 2nd meeting of the season 5-1 on 1/29 in TB (Helm scored for DET; Paquette [3], Stamkos and Barberio scored for TB)
- Pavel Datsyuk has 15 points (7-8-15) in 12 games vs. TB
- Gustav Nyquist has 4 points (2-2-4) in 6 games vs. TB
- Henrik Zetterberg has 8 points (3-5-8) in 13 games vs. TB
- Niklas Kronwall has 7 points (1-6-7) in 11 games vs. TB
- Stephen Weiss has 34 points (11-23-34) in 52 games vs. TB
- Drew Miller was briefly a member of TB in 2009-10, skating in 14 games before DET claimed him off waivers on 11/11/09
- TB’s top career scorers vs. DET: Brenden Morrow (12-9-21 in 42 GP), Matthew Carle (0-6-6 in 18 GP) and Steven Stamkos (5-1-6 in 8 GP)
- TB F Valtteri Filppula had 251 points (100-151-251) in 483 games with DET from 2005-13
- TB F Vladislav Namestnikov is the nephew of former Red Wing Slava Kozlov
- TB head coach Jon Cooper is a former head coach for Lansing Catholic Central, the Jr. B Metro Jets and Honeybaked Midget Major
- DET is 3-3-3 vs. TB since Steve Yzerman took over as the team’s general manager in May 2010
- 16 players in today’s game participated in the 2013 AHL Calder Cup Finals: Andersson, DeKeyser, Glendening, Jurco, Mrazek, Nyquist, Sheahan and Tatar for Grand Rapids; Angelidis, Barberio, Brown, Johnson, Namestnikov, Palat, Paquette and Sustr for Syracuse. The Griffins won the series 4-2.
THIS DATE IN RED WINGS HISTORY
March 20, 1996 – The Red Wings acquire Kirk Maltby from Edmonton in exchange for Dan McGillis.
March 20, 1993 – John Ogrodnick scores his 400th career regular-season goal in a 7-4 win over the Boston Bruins at the Boston Gardens.
LEAGUE LEADERS
Cole: 17.7 S% (T6th)
Datsyuk: 58 points (T27th), 21 PP points (T21st), 15.4 S% (25th), 53.3 FO% (22nd), 56 takeaways (T13th)
Glendening: 54.3 FO% (18th), 3:21 SH TOI/game (6th)
Kronwall: 21 PP points (T28th), 23:43 TOI/game (24th)
Miller: 3:09 SH TOI/game (T9th)
Nyquist: 12 PP goals (T4th), 22 PP points (T21st)
Tatar: 25 goals (T17th), 8 PP goals (T26th), 7 GWG (T6th)
Zetterberg: 43 assists (8th), 59 points (T24th), 25 PP points (T10th), 52.3 FO% (29th), 38 points at home (T4th)
TEAM RANKS
2.87 goals for/game (8th) … 25.1% power play (2nd) … 28.4 shots against/game (7th) … 52.6% on faceoffs (4th) … 47.1% winning pct when opponent scores first (2nd to only NYI) … 87.5% winning pct when leading after 1 period (2nd to CHI) … 50.0% winning pct when trailing after 1 period (2nd to OTT) … 33.3% winning pct when trailing after 2 periods (2nd to ANA).
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
TONIGHT'S MATCHUP
The Lightning continue their six-game homestand this evening when they host the Detroit Red Wings at Amalie Arena...The Lightning are looking to extend their franchise record for most home wins in a season...The Bolts have won five of their past six contests on homeice and 16 of their past 19 games at Amalie Arena...Tonight's game is the third of four meetings between the Lightning and Red Wings this season, and final matchup at Amalie Arena...The Lightning have won the first two meetings of the season series, including a 5-1 win over Detroit at Amalie Arena on Jan. 29...Cedric Paquette recorded his first career NHL hat trick in the game...Steven Stamkos has recorded three goals in two games against Detroit...Ben Bishop has been in net for both games this season against Detroit and owns an all-time record of 6-1-0 to go along with a 1.60 goals-against average and .939 save percentage against the Red Wings.
TONIGHT'S STORYLINES
Tonight's game features two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, with the Bolts owning a six point advantage over the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division standings...The Lightning enter tonight's game with points in six of their past seven contests (5-1-1), while the Red Wings have just one win over their past four outings...The Lightning enter tonight's game as the League's highest scoring team with 228 goals, with the next closest team (Dallas) 11 goals behind...The Lightning's 27 home victories rank first overall in the NHL...Tampa Bay ranks first (tie-NY Rangers) in the NHL for regulation/OT victories this season with 41...The Lightning's +46 goal differential ranks third overall in the League...Tampa Bay has registered 89 third period tallies, ranking first (tie-Calgary) in the League...Four Lightning players occupy the Top-7 overall spots in plus/minus in the NHL (Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Jason Garrison).
INJURIES
2014-15 Man Games Lost: 132
Current Injuries:
Ondrej Palat - Lower Body (OUT) 3 Games
Braydon Coburn - Lower Body (OUT) 3 Games
Cedric Paquette - Upper Body (OUT) 3 Games
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