Game Day Set-Up: Red Wings @ Jets

When: Thursday, November 20, 2014

Time: 7:00 p.m. CST

Where: MTS Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Records: Winnipeg Jets (10-7-3, 23 points, 7th in West), Detroit Red Wings (9-4-5, 23 points, 6th in East)

Television/Radio: FS-D, TSN3/ TSN 1290 Radio

On the Horizon: Sunday, November 23rd at home against the St.Louis Blues (3:30 p.m. CST).

Last Game: 3-1 win over the New Jersey Devils

Top Scorers:

Winnipeg Jets: Blake Wheeler (8 goals, 5 assists, 13 points), Andrew Ladd (7 goals, 5 assists, 12 points), Bryan Little (5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points), Tobias Enstrom (1 goals, 8 assists, 9 points), Zach Bogosian (0 goals, 8 assists, 8 points)

Detroit Red Wings: Henrik Zetterberg (4 goals, 13 assists, 17 points), Niklas Kronwall (3 goals, 9 assists, 12 points), Johan Franzen (5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points), Justin Abdelkader (5 goals, 7 assists, 12 points), Gustav Nyquist (9 goals, 3 assists, 12 points)

Game Day Notes:

– Since starting the season 1-4, The Jets are 9-3-3 in their last 15 games.

– This is one of two meetings between the Jets and Red Wings this year. The two teams will meet in Detroit on Valentine’s Day (6:00 p.m. CST).

– The Detroit Red Wings have only visited the MTS Centre once, back on November 4, 2013. The Jets won the game 4-2 with Al Montoya getting the win.

– Ondrej Pavelec was first off the ice this morning in practise and is expected to start in net for the Jets tonight. It will be Pavelec’s 17th start of the season. Pavelec has a record of 7-6-2 with a .923 Save Percentage and 2.14 Goals Against Average.

– The Jets have scored 40 goals this year, last in the Western Conference.

– Surging: Jets forward Michael Frolik has three goals and one assist in his last four games.

– Slumping: Jets forward Bryan Little has no points in his last six games.

– According to Chuck Pleiness of the Macomb Daily newspaper, Peter Mrazek will get his first start of the season in goal tonight for the Red Wings. The 22-year-old Czech Republic native has played 11 career NHL games and has a record of 3-5-0 with a 1.80 Goals Against Average and .926 Save Percentage.

– According to Ansar Khan of MLive.com, Pavel Datsyuk is in Winnipeg with the Red Wings but he will not play tonight. Datsyuk has been out of the line-up with a groin injury. Datsyuk has five goals and six assists in 10 games this season.

– Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl will be a healthy scratch for the third game in a row.

– On Wednesday, Detroit placed forward Andrej Nestrasil on waivers and he was claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. Nestrasil had two assists in 13 games with Detroit.

– The move to put Nestrasil waivers was made so that center Stephen Weiss could be activated off of injured reserve. Weiss has played only one game for the Wings this year and has been dealing with a groin injury. The plan is for Weiss to play a two-game conditioning stint in Grand Rapids (AHL) before he returns to the Wings line-up.

– On Wednesday the Red Wings placed Defenseman Brendan Smith on Injured Reserve with a hand infection he suffered from a fight on Tuesday night against Nick Foligno of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Smith will be out a minimum of 10 days. Due to Smith’s injury, Detroit recalled Defenseman Xavier Ouellet from Grand Rapids. Ouellet has one goal and four assists in 13 games with the Griffins this year.

– Defenseman Tobias Enstrom leads all Jets in ice time, averaging 25:13 of ice time per game, ranked 12th in the NHL.

– Defenseman Niklas Kronwall leads all Red Wings in ice time, averaging 24:21 of ice time per game, ranked 19th in the NHL.

– Winnipeg Jets forward Michael Frolik recorded his 200th career point on Tuesday night versus New Jersey.

– Red Wings Top Face-off Guy: Luke Glendening (55.6%, 20th in NHL)

– Jets Top Face-off Guy: Jim Slater (56.8%)

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Detroit: Petr Mrazek. This is Mrazek’s first start of the season and he faces a Jets team that has scored six goals in the last four periods of action.

– Who’s Under the Microscope for Winnipeg: Evander Kane. Kane has one goal in his last six games and only two all year. Last game, Kane was moved to a line with Mathieu Perreault and Dustin Byfuglien.

Special Teams Breakdown:

– Detroit PP (19.2%, 14th in NHL), Detroit PK (89.1%, 3rd in NHL)

– Winnipeg PP (9.0%, 29th in NHL), Winnipeg PK (86.7%, 6th in NHL)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations:

Andrew Ladd- Bryan Little- Blake Wheeler
Evander Kane- Mathieu Perreault- Dustin Byfuglien
Adam Lowry- Mark Scheifele -Michael Frolik
Matt Halischuk- Jim Slater- Chris Thorburn

Tobias Enstrom- Zach Bogosian
Mark Stuart- Jacob Trouba
Adam Pardy- Paul Postma

Michael Hutchinson
Ondrej Pavelec

Healthy Scratches: TJ Galiardi, Anthony Peluso, Grant Clitsome

Projected Detroit Red Wings Line Combinations:

Gustav Nyquist- Henrik Zetterberg – Johan Franzen
Tomas Tatar- Riley Sheahan- Justin Abdelkader
Danny Cleary- Darren Helm- Tomas Jurco
Drew Miller- Luke Glendening- Joakim Andersson

Niklas Kronwall- Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey- Danny DeKeyser
Brian Lashoff- Xavier Ouellet

Petr Mrazek
Jimmy Howard

Healthy Scratches: Jakub Kindl

Injury Report:

Detroit Red Wings: Brendan Smith (hand infection), Pavel Datsyuk (groin), Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder)

Winnipeg Jets:  None