Red Wings vs. Blue Jackets: Notes, Lines, Goalies, How to Watch

The Detroit Red Wings are back in action in the first of an unusual home-and-hime tonight when they play host to Columbus.

Game two of the back-to-back will be Saturday night at Ohio Stadium, Sunday if there’ a postponement.

The Wings go in fairly hot, with a 9-2-1 mark in their last 12 games, and Columbus having won two in a row since the season resumed. Both teams are in playoff spots going into the game. The Wings are in seventh place in the East and Columbus eighth.

The Eastern Conference race has stretched out a little bit, giving Detroit a little breathing room in the standings. But they have next Thursday’s trade deadline looming and need to find a center to replace the injured Andrew Copp, meaning there’s no shortage of things for GM Steve Yzerman to worry about.

So far, though, coach Todd McLellan has been up to the challeneges he has faced in turning around the team’s culture and working the Wings’ young talent into key roles.

Both teams have 24 games left in the season and a win tonight would be a nice kick-start to the weekend,  it will be weird, after all those football games in the Horseshoe, to see a team from Michigan wearing red against an Ohio team wearing blue this weekend.

The Matchup

Who: Red Wings vs. Blue Jackets

Where: Little Caesars Arena

When: 7 p.m.

TV/Radio: Fan Duel/97.1 FM

Detroit Projected Lines

Kasper – Larkin – Raymond

DeBrincat – Compher– Kane

Soderblom – Veleno – Tarasenko

Compher– Motte – Berggrenş

Defensive Pairings

Chiarot – Seider

Edvinsson –Johansson

Gustafsson – Holl

Goalies

Talbot- Lyon

Columbus Projected Lines

Voronkov – Fantilli – Marchenko

Jenner – Sillinger – Johnson

Rees – Danforth – Oliver

Van Riemsdyk – Kuraly – Labste

Defensive Pairings

Werenski – Fabbro

Mateychuk – Provorov

chrisansen – Severson

Goalies

Merslikins – Tarasov