Lineup Unchanged, Simmering Tensions, and Avoiding Last Day of School Vibes: Red Wings-Senators Game Day Notebook & Where to Watch
Everything you need to know ahead of tonight's game between the Red Wings and Ottawa in Detroit
Mandatory Credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports - Lineup Unchanged, Simmering Tensions, and Avoiding Last Day of School Vibes: Red Wings-Senators Game Day Notebook & Where to WatchTonight, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Ottawa Senators in their final game before a ten-day lay-off composed of the All-Star break and then the team's bye week.
To coach Derek Lalonde, a priority for tonight will be avoiding a last day of school vibe and instead maintaining the form and style that have seen Detroit surge up the standings over the course of the month.
"Especially the way we've been playing, it's unique," he said after this morning's skate. "First time we've had three days between a game in a while. Look at last night [around the NHL], and you had two shutouts. Two teams battling for the playoff spots losing to two teams who are not [Columbus beating St. Louis and San Jose beating Seattle]. We wanna keep our game in order, and [it's] another opportunity to play the right way."
Lineups
Lalonde also said this morning that the Red Wings would ice an identical lineup to the one they deployed Saturday night against Vegas.
Though Patrick Kane has been skating for a week now and Ben Chiarot was on the ice for this morning's optional skate, it ultimately didn't make sense for either player to rush back ahead of the forthcoming prolonged break.
Meanwhile, Ville Husso has been under the weather the past two days, so his return to NHL action will also wait until after the break. The good news there is that Lalonde confirmed this morning that the injury that has held him out since mid-December is 100% healed, and he should be back available after the break. In the mean time, Alex Lyon will man the goal in what will be his 12th start of the month.
On the other side of the ledger, here is how the Senators are expected to line up:
Lingering Bad Blood? Lalonde and Larkin Don't Think So
The last time the Red Wings and Senators tangled Ottawa claimed a blow out victory that felt like an afterthought to Detroit fans, considering the frightening injury sustained by Dylan Larkin in the process. By the end of the night, Christian Fischer fought Mathieu Joseph, whose cross-check from behind knocked Larkin out on the ice.
Despite the emotion of that last get together, Larkin stressed earlier this week that tonight's matchup was another important one by virtue of being a divisional game, while downplaying the sense that the evening's focus is liable to wind up on settling scores as opposed to earning two points.
"It's a big game; it's a division game, last game before break," Larkin said. "We've got three games off between games, which is kind of rare for us. We have to keep our focus. It's a home game. Crowds have been awesome. We gotta come out and perform for them."
"It's another game, and we've had a history with them the last couple seasons," he added, acknowledging that the sense of rivalry between the two teams isn't merely a fiction. "I'm sure it'll be intense like it is every time we play them. That's what I expect—a good hockey game. We need to tie up the series against them for this season."
Meanwhile, Lalonde contended that any lingering notion of a need for vengeance is a media creation, while also admitting that his team will need to strike a balance between engaging emotionally without letting those emotions spiral out of control:
"The media will probably make more of it than what it really is. It's us going into any game. We wanna be emotionally involved, but we wanna manage our emotions too. It's who we've been all year. We're not built like some teams physically, but I think we've done a good job of standing up for ourselves and getting push back when need be. Again, for us, it's gonna be about playing the right way, keeping our game in order, and try to eat more points."
Where to Watch
Tonight's game (a 7 PM start) will be on its usual television home of Bally Sports Detroit. Out of market fans will also have their familiar viewing options: ESPN+ and Hulu.
Also from THN Detroit