Morning Skate: Red Wings vs Blue Jackets Preview, How to Watch

Time: 7:00 PM EST

Place: Nationwide Arena

TV: BSOH, BDT+

Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket/1270 AM

Blue Jackets Blog: The Cannon

The penultimate prelude to the season’s end starts tonight as the Red Wings square off against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Wings went home with two wins from their last back-to-back bout against the Blue Jackets.

The next two games will reveal the winner of the Basement Brawl in the Central Division. “Winning”, in this instance, is subjective. Would you rather finish the season strong, or hope to build on the tank for better draft odds?

This is the great dilemma of every tanking team. On one hand, every victory is a chance to let the younger players build confidence. On the other, two losses could push the Wings even closer to 1st Overall odds. As of right now, Detroit is 27th in the standings. If the draft were to take place right now, at worst, they’d pick 10th overall. Strangely enough, the next two games will be the one of the largest determining factors of the 2021 NHL draft for about half the NHL.

Injuries have hampered the Wings, creating a skeleton crew roster where Michael Rasmussen has assumed top-line center duties. Fabbri’s been skating with the team, so there’s a strong chance he could return to the roster. Having said that, the team’s offense is suffering. They’ve scored only four goals in the last five games.

Without Larkin, Bertuzzi, and even Bobby Ryan, this team is struggling to generate offense. Despite the Blue Jackets’ struggles on the offensive end, they’ve still got Patrik Laine. Whether or not he steps up to the plate remains to be seen, but you can never underestimate players that can score like Laine can.

Best Case Scenario: The Wings barely lose the game, Joe Veleno scores his first, and Zadina gets a point.

Here are a few gameday jams to get you hyped up: