When: 7:00 PM Eastern
Where: Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI
TV: BSDET, BSW
Radio: 97.1 FM The Ticket // 1270 AM
Kings Blog: Jewels from the Crown [on hiatus]
Detroit puts their 2-0 record on the line on a Monday night after taking the day off traveling home from New Jersey. The Wings have their third game in four nights after a near-perfectly played season opener followed by a bit of a mess that the team cleaned well for themselves during the Devils’ home opener.
Los Angeles is 1-2 so far on the young season but their one win was in their last game on Saturday against Minnesota by a 7-6 score. So we know the Kings can put goals up.
Adrian Kempe leads the way so far with three goals and four points, but also tied for the team leads is Gabriel Vilardi, who is looking to start is official NHL breakout after some injury history slowed things down for him previously. Wings fans will remember him as the guy that they wanted Ken Holland to take when they drafted Michael Rasmussen.
Personally I’m not interested in relitigating that draft. What happened is done and I really like how Ras has come around since about the midway point of last season.
For the Kings, rest isn’t coming soon. Their first game was last Tuesday, so they had two in the bag before we got our opener done, but this is the first of a road back-to-back and their game in Nashville tomorrow will be their third in fourth. After that, they visit Pittsburgh and Washington to finish out their week.
Big question for Detroit will be the status of Tyler Bertuzzi, who left Saturday’s game early after blocking a shot. I anticipate we’ll be without him for a time. What we won’t know until later is what it means for the lineup.