Everything you need to know before tonight's Red Wings-Coyotes game at Mullet Arena in Arizona
Everything you need to know before tonight's Red Wings-Coyotes game at Mullet Arena in Arizona
Tonight at 9 o'clock Eastern on campus at Arizona State's Mullett Arena, the Red Wings will take on the Coyotes.
To put it mildly, Arizona will limp into tonight's game, having gone 2-14-2 in their last 18 games and lost 5-2 to the Wild last night with a lineup depleted already by the trade deadline. Defenseman (and former Red Wing) Troy Stetcher was traded to Edmonton yesterday afternoon, and fellow D man Matt Dumba along with forward Jason Zucker sat last night to preserve their health with an eye to the trade market. We won't know until the 3 PM deadline passes whether Dumba will be in the lineup tonight, but Zucker was traded to Nashville already this afternoon.
The simple fact is that all signs point to this being a game Detroit—even without Dylan Larkin—ought to win, and that's good, because having now lost three in a row, the Red Wings could use a win.
There are obvious extenuating circumstances that help explain each of those losses. The first came against an Islander team that appears to have discovered a rhythm under new coach Patrick Roy amidst its own surge toward the postseason, and the six-game winning streak that preceded it braced against the impact of the loss. The second came against Florida, the hottest and, at least for the moment, best team in the NHL. The third came at altitude on the road against another tier-one Cup contender in the Avalanche, and it was the Red Wings' first game adjusting to life without Larkin.
But the fact remains, Detroit is in a playoff race, and that means, in the short term, results are a lot more relevant than context. Coach Derek Lalonde said as much after Wednesday's loss in Colorado, when asked what his team needs to do better to break its losing skid.
"You gotta win," he replied simply. "There's no shame in losing to Florida and obviously this team back-to-back...but now we're looking at three straight losses. The bottom line is if we're gonna stay in the battle, we gotta stop the bleeding when we have these runs. Right now, we're in a run, and we'll get a little reset tomorrow and we'll have an opportunity on Friday in Arizona."
Christian Fischer and Shayne Gostisbehere Return to Former Stomping Grounds
Tonight, former Coyotes Christian Fischer and Shayne Gostisbehere will return to their old home at Mullett Arena.
Fischer spent the first seven seasons and 398 games of his NHL career in Arizona, where he racked up 56 goals, 55 assists, and an untold number of third assists. In 59 games with the Red Wings, Fischer has two goals and a dozen assists for 14 points, but that figure hardly does justice to his value or role.
“Wherever he is in our lineup, we just ask him to win shifts for us and he does that,” Lalonde said recently of Fischer. “He's predictable, he’s simple. He gets his nose over pucks. He goes to hard areas. ... You look at a lot of our offense, you look at a lot of our sustained zone time—it’s usually him keeping the forecheck alive. It’s him getting over a puck, winning a battle. It’s him being net-front in a shot scramble situation. He’s been a very, very valuable player for us this year.”
This evening will bring Fischer's first NHL game against the only franchise he'd known since being drafted in the second round of the 2015 Draft until this season. For Gostisbehere, it will be a different sort of evening. He began last season a Coyote before being traded to Carolina at the deadline. In a peculiar twist of fate, his first game as a Hurricane was against Arizona at Mullet Arena, so he's gotten his first chance to return out of the way already.
Gostisbehere has nine goals and 31 assists for 40 points in 61 games with the Red Wings this season. He's played sheltered five-on-five minutes (an inversion of Jake Walman and Moritz Seider's ridiculous workload) but delivered well on the role he signed in Detroit to play as the team's primary power play quarterback.
Where to Watch
Tonight's game is scheduled for a 9 PM Eastern start at Mullett Arena on campus at Arizona State University. The game will be on its familiar television home, Bally Sports Detroit. Out-of-market fans will be able to watch on ESPN+ and Hulu.
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