from Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com,

For the most part, the Red Wings don't have defensemen like San Jose's Brent Burns, who shoot early and often.

Burns had nine shots of the Sharks' 31 shots against the Wings Wednesday and leads the league with 214.

However, as the Wings emphasized a shooting mentality, defensemen Mike Green and Nick Jensen led the way with six apiece, and the blue line contributed 18 overall.

"The 18 shots by the D included in that 44 I thought was real important," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said after the team's optional morning skate. "That's an area where I think if we're going to improve our shot total, a lot of it has to come from that back end. Everybody collapses in the O-zone, so when you get the puck low to high, you gotta find a way to get that puck to the net and I thought our D corps did a good job of doing that, and I thought our D was active. The shot total and the increased production from our D corps to me is two easy ways to increase our output."

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added 2:50pm, Detroit's projected lineup is below...