4/5 Wings at Avalanche Game Day Updates

The Wings visit the Avalanche tonight at 9:00PM EST.

     There was no morning skate for the Wings today. I like to think that after the dumpster fire last night, Zetterberg shot angry lasers from his eyes and  melted all the ice; then Babcock death stared everyone so hard that the whole Pepsi Center burst into flames and burned to the ground. Maybe there won't be a game tonight after all.

     Last night's "performance" was so bad that immediately after the game Babcock announced that DeKeyser, White, Quincey would all be in tonight. He didn't know who was going to be scratched, but he was sure of the changes.  Lashoff, Colaiacovo, and Kindl (Update: Babcock decided Smith will sit tonight) will be scratched tonight.

Jimmy Howard is starting tonight... again. 

Brunner out indefinitely with hip flexor injury.

     Samuelsson is out indefinitely as well, but it's not just a bruised pec muscle, it's also torn. He said he's "Not lucky at all". I have to concur.

     We'll see the NHL debut of Danny DeKeyser tonight, penalty kill concerns prompted Mike Babcock not to start him last night in Phoenix. Babcock wants to make sure Deke is ready to be thrown into an NHL game, and I'm glad he's taking the time to make sure he's ready. DeKeyser has had a week of practicing with the team, and trying to prepare as best he can, both physically and mentally, for what he'll face in the NHL. Both his parents, and two of his six siblings traveled to Phoenix hoping to see his debut that didn't happen, but they'll also be in Colorado tonight. 

 Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche:

Tonight's game is the 113th all-time meeting between DET and COL

This is DET's 57th all-time road game at COL

DET's all-time record vs COL: 61-41-5-5

DET's all-time road record at COL: 27-24-4-1

Last head-to-head game: DET 3, COL 2 on Apr. 1 at Joe Louis Arena

DET is 6-3-1 in its last 10 regular season games vs COL

DET is 3-2-0 in its last 5 regular season road games at COL

DET's PP is 5-21 (23.8%) over the last 6 regular season games vs COL

DET's PK is 11-15 (73.3%) over the last 6 regular season games vs COL

J. Franzen has 8 points (6-2-8) over the last 6 games vs COL

H. Zetterberg has 5 points (1-4-5) over his last 5 games played vs COL

P. Datsyuk has 39 points (13-26-39) in 38 career games vs COL

H. Zetterberg has 24 points (8-16-24) in 33 career games vs COL

J. Howard is 6-2-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .905 SV% in 10 career games vs COL

DET is 6-4-0 vs the Pacific Division this season (14-5-1 in 2011-12)

 Here's the expected lineup:

Forwards
Justin Abdelkader	Pavel Datsyuk	Johan Franzen
Valtteri Filppula	Henrik Zetterberg	Daniel Cleary
Gustav Nyquist	Joakim Andersson	Patrick Eaves
Drew Miller	Cory Emmertom	Jordin Tootoo

Defense
Niklas Kronwall	Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey	Jakub Kindl
Danny DeKeyser	Ian White

Goalies

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Healthy Scratch

Carlo Colaiacovo

Brendan Smith

Brian Lashoff

Injured

Todd Bertuzzi (Back)

Damien Brunner (Hip Flexor)

Darren Helm (Back)

Mikael Samuelsson (Torn Pectoral Muscle)

 Let's Go Red Wings!!!