Put this in here to remind everybody that the ice is gonna suuuuck tonight – J.J.
Zadina -Larkin – Raymond
Fabbri – Suter- Bertuzzi
Namestnikov – Rasmussen – Erne
Veleno – Rowney – Gagner
DeKeyser – Seider
Staal – Hronek
Leddy – Lindstrom
Greiss
Nedeljkovic
Bunting – Matthews – Marner
Kase – Tavares – Nylander
Mikheyev – Kampf – Kerfoot
Robertson – Spezza – Simmonds
Rielly – Brodie
Sandin – Lyubushkin
Dermott – Liljegren
Campbell
Mrazek
Tighten up defensively. Like I mentioned in the Morning Skate, Detroit needs to let in fewer goals if they want to come away with a winning record on February. Toronto is an offensively stacked team that will capitalize on mistakes. Detroit’s young defensive corp needs to step up and have a big game tonight to come away with the win. That means you too, Marc Staal.
Protect against the momentum shifts. Detroit has been susceptible in the past few weeks of letting in a goal shortly after scoring one of their own. While we are seeing some growth because in seasons past the team would crumble in the face of this kind of response, Detroit’s next step is to not let in the goal at all.
Get Campbell moving laterally. Toronto journeyman netminder Jack Campbell is getting the nod tonight. The Port Huron native is a big guy at 6’3” and whenever I see goalies like that I always recall a postgame interview with Todd Bertuzzi after a game against the Coyotes when Mike Smith held their net. Todd mentioned that because Smith was so big, the only way you’re going to get a puck past him is to get him moving laterally to create space; if he’s not sliding back and forth across the crease, you’re not going to find daylight. Campbell’s been having a pretty great season thus far, but I think Old Bert’s advice might be right for this one.