GAME DAY

There’s no surprise going into game three what the word form the Red Wings camp is. The Red Wings need to play their game. In just two games this series has developed into a battle between skill and force with the winner being the team that can impose their style of play on the other. In Game one, the Wings played fast, controlled the pace, and didn’t allow the big, bad, Bruins to catch them. Game two was a different story. The Bruins goaded the Wings into playing Bruins hockey and, as the score dictated, that’s no way to win. Tonight the series comes to The Joe. On home ice the Red Wing need to dictate the pace of play and focus on playing Red Wings hockey.

One place the Wings can make some major improvements is on the powerplay. In six attempts over the first two games, the Red Wings have gone 0/6 and only managed to three shots on net. The Bruins PK completely dominated, stifling the Detroit breakout and entry on the powerplay in Game two. The Wings need to make things a little harder on Tuukka Rask if they plan on scoring more than a goal per game this series. The goals they have scored have been well-earned but ultimately somewhat lucky, and you can’t depend on lady luck to win a playoff series.

It wouldn’t hurt if Gustav Nyquist returned to his pre-playoff point scoring prowess. Nyquist hasn’t been the dominant force that he was down the stretch. It could be that he’s no longer able to slip under the radar but ultimately, whether he has a Bruins checker all over him or not, Nyquist needs to find a way to put the puck in the net.

How incredible was Coach Babcock’s analogy in reference to Brendan Smith standing up to Zdeno Chara? Smith has been right in the thick of things and a frequent target for Bruins checkers. As much as facing Chara might not be the smartest thing to do, you’ve got to admire Smith standing up to him, even if he’d need a stepladder to see him eye to eye. The Wings can’t get into a pushing match after every whistle but playoff hockey is about intensity and Brendan Smith has that.

In the grande scheme of things, nobody expected the Wings to come out of Boston with a win so returning to Detroit with the series knotted at one is a pretty fantastic spot to be in.

PROJECTED LINES

RED WINGS

Franzen - Datsyuk - Abdelkader
Nyquist - Sheahan - Tatar
Jurco - Helm - Alfredsson
Miller - Glendening - Legwand

Kronwall - Smith
Quincey - DeKeyser
Kindl - Lashoff

Jimmy Howard (starting)
Jonas Gustavsson

Injuries: Weiss, Samuelsson, Cleary, Zetterberg, Ericsson

BRUINS

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Florek - Soderberg - Eriksson
Caron - Campbell - Thornton

Chara - Boychuk
Meszaros - Miller
Krug - Hamilton

Tuukka Rask (starting)
Chad Johnson

Injuries: Savard, McQuaid, Saidenberg, Paille, Kelly, Bartkowski

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» GAME DAY: Game 1 Wings @ Bruins

» BRING ON THE BRUINS