What Bettors Need to Know: Wings at Hawks

Excerpts from Ari’s article on Covers looking at tonight’s Wings/Hawks game from a bettor’s perspective:

Detroit Red Wings at Chicago Blackhawks (-125, 5.5)

Will Datsyuk Play?

Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk missed Thursday’s practice and his status is uncertain for Friday’s game. The Hart Trophy finalist was injured during Game 2 when he was hit in the thigh with a shot.

Jiri Hudler took Datsyuk’s place on a line between Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa. Though Datsyuk only has seven points in 13 playoff games, he finished fourth in the league with 97 points during the regular season

Balancing act

The Wings have players on all four lines that can score and received contributions from unlikely sources on Tuesday with Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson scoring the game-tying and game-winning goals.

In order to win, the Blackhawks need consistent production from both their top forwards and secondary scorers. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane played much better on separate lines in Game 2, but Chicago did not receive any secondary scoring. Coach Joel Quenneville has not yet disclosed whether they will be re-united for tonight’s match.

Read the entire article here.