When: Saturday, February 14, 2015

Time: 6:00 p.m. CST

Where: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan

Records: Winnipeg Jets (28-19-10, 66 points, 6th in West), Detroit Red Wings (31-13-9, 71 points, 5th in East)

Television/Radio: CITY, FS-D/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Monday, February 16th at home against the Edmonton Oilers (7:00 p.m. CST)

Last Game: 3-1 loss to the Nashville Predators

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Andrew Ladd (18 goals, 27 assists, 45 points), Bryan Little (21 goals, 23 assists, 44 points), Blake Wheeler (15 goals, 26 assists, 41 points), Dustin Byfuglien (14 goals, 24 assists, 38 points), Mathieu Perreault (18 goals, 18 assists, 36 points)

Detroit Red Wings: Henrik Zetterberg (15 goals, 33 assists, 48 points), Pavel Datsyuk (15 goals, 24 assists, 39 points), Gustav Nyquist (20 goals, 19 assists, 39 points), Tomas Tatar (23 goals, 16 assists, 39 points), Niklas Kronwall (5  goals, 25 assists, 30 points)

Game Day Notes:

– Tonight is the second game of a short two game road trip for Winnipeg. The Jets lost 3-1 to the Predators on Thursday night and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games.

– Jets Road Record: 14-9-6

– The Jets are 20-9-5 this season when they score the first goal of a game.

– Based on today’s game day skate, there aren’t expected to be any line-up changes for the Jets or changes in forward/defense line combinations.

– Detroit is 8-2-0 in their last 10 games.

– Detroit’s Home Record: 17-4-6

– The Red Wings have not lost back-to-back games in regulation this year.

– According to Ken Kal, Detroit Red Wings Radio Play by Play Announcer, Detroit has won 7 of their last 9 games played on Valentine’s Day.

– This is the second of two meetings between the Jets and Red Wings this year. The Red Wings defeated the Jets 4-3 back on November 20th in Winnipeg.

Michael Hutchinson is expected to start in goal for the Jets tonight. In 26 games this season, Hutchinson has a record of 15-7-3 with a .925 save percentage and 2.18 Goals Against Average.

– Jimmy Howard will start in net for the Red Wings tonight. It will be Howard’s first start in five weeks since suffering a groin injury. In 33 games this season, Howard has a record of 16-7-7 with a .920 save percentage and 2.09 Goals Against Average.

– According to Ansar Khan of MLive.com, Petr Mrazek will back up Jimmy Howard tonight and the Wings will keep three goalies up for now (Howard, Petr Mrazek, Jonas Gustavsson).

– Red Hot for Winnipeg: Dustin Byfuglien is on a three game points streak (two goals, three assists).

– Ice Cold: Adam Lowry has no points in the last seven games.

– Milestone Watch: Bryan Little needs eight more assists to reach 200 career assists.

– Red Hot for Detroit: Detroit forward Tomas Tatar has five points (two goals, three assists) over the last four games.

– The Red Wings average 2.91 goals for/game, 9th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.65 goals for/game, 20th in the NHL.

– The Red Wings average 2.40 goals against/game, 5th in the NHL. The Jets average 2.54 goals against/game, 10th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Niklas Kronwall leads all Red Wings in ice time, averaging 23:31 of ice time per game.

– Defenseman Tyler Myers leads all Jets in ice time, averaging 24:58 of ice time per game

– Red Wings Top Face-off Guy: Darren Helm (56.2%)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (55.9%)

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Detroit PP (25.9%, 1st in NHL), Detroit PK (83.6%, 8th in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (17.4%, 22nd in NHL), Winnipeg PK (81.9%, 14th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
Mathieu Perreault- Mark Scheifele- Drew Stafford
Chris Thorburn- Adam Lowry- Michael Frolik
TJ Galiardi- Jim Slater- Anthony Peluso

Tobias Enstrom- Tyler Myers
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot- Dustin Byfuglien

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: Paul Postma, Adam Pardy

Projected Detroit Red Wings Line Combinations:

Gustav Nyquist- Henrik Zetterberg- Justin Abdelkader
Tomas Tatar- Pavel Datsyuk- Darren Helm
Luke Glendening- Riley Sheahan-  Tomas Jurco
Stephen Weiss- Joakim Andersson- Drew Miller

Jonathan Ericsson- Niklas Kronwall
Kyle Quincey- Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith- Alexey Marchenko

Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek

Healthy Scratches: Jakub Kindl

Injury Report:

Detroit Red Wings: Johan Franzen (concussion)

Winnipeg JetsGrant Clitsome (back surgery, indefinitely), Matt Halischuk (lower body, Injured Reserve), Jay Harrison (upper body)

 

Ezra Ginsburg

Analyst on the Illegal Curve Hockey Show and Illegal Curve Post-Game Show.

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