About the Red Wings - 01-18-11
A preview of the Red Wings.
When and where: 7 p.m., Consol Energy Center.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, FS Detroit.
Record: 28-11-6, 62 points. The Red Wings are in second place in the Western Conference and first place in the Central Division.
Leading Scorer: Henrik Zetterberg (right), 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists).
Last Game: 6-5 overtime home win against the Blue Jackets. Drew Miller had a goal and two assists for the Red Wings.
Last Game against the Penguins: 3-1 home win, March 22. Chris Kunitz had a goal for the Penguins.
Red Wings Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Valtteri Filppula. He has scored in eight of his last nine games.
Ex-Penguins on the Red Wings: None.
Ex-Red Wings on the Penguins: None.
Useless Red Wings Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins Pirates: The first hat trick in the history of the Red Wings/Falcons/Cougars franchise was scored by forward Duke Keats. As a member of the Cougars, he netted three goals against the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates franchise in a 7-1 home win (in Windsor, Ont.) March 10, 1927.
Best Red Wings Video We Could Find: Former Red Wings forward Steve Yzerman scoring his 400th career goal against the Penguins in the 1992-93 season:
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (20-11-2, 2.29 GAA, .920 SV%) for the Penguins and Joey MacDonald (1-1-1, 2.37 GAA, .907 SV%) for the Red Wings.
Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Sidney Crosby (concussion) is out. Forwards Mike Comrie (hip), Eric Godard (nose) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Red Wings, forward Tomas Holmstrom (hand) and goaltender Jimmy Howard (knee) are out. Forwards Dan Cleary (ankle), Pavel Datsyuk (wrist), Mike Modano (wrist), goaltender Chris Osgood (groin) and defenseman Brad Stuart (jaw) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines and defensive pairings at practice yesterday were:
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal -Tyler Kennedy
Mike Rupp - Max Talbot - Chris Conner
Craig Adams - Mark Letestu - Arron Asham
Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland
-The Red Wings' primary lines and defensive pairings in practice yesterday were:
Johan Franzen - Henrik Zetterberg - Patrick Eaves
Jiri Hudler - Valtteri Filppula - Todd Bertuzzi
Kris Draper - Darren Helm - Drew Miller
Tomas Tatar - Justin Abdelkader - Jan Mursak
Nicklas Lidstrom - Niklas Kronwall
Jonathan Ericsson - Brian Rafalski
Ruslan Salei - Jakub Kindl
Notes:
-"Any team that beats you in the [Stanley Cup] final, you're going to have a rivalry with them, probably forever." - Orpik.
-Letang is a big fan of Lidstrom.
-Kennedy has 99 career points.
-Talbot has 49 career goals, 49 career assists and 98 career points.
-This game won't have the star power it usually has.
-Franzen has 198 career points.
-Rafalski has 498 career points.
-Bertuzzi has 696 career points.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)