Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings (9-2-2, 20 points) and the Winnipeg Jets (5-8-2, 12 points) hit the ice against each other for the first of two meetings this season live from MTS Centre in Winnipeg. The game can be live streamed here. Detroit fans can hear all of the bone-crunching action on 97.1 The Ticket, while Winnipeg fans can do the same on TSN Radio 1290.
Detroit enters play in a first place tie in the Atlantic Division, with the same amount of points as the division-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, but one less win while Winnipeg comes into the contest in seventh and last place in the Central Division, 12 points behind the first place Colorado Avalanche. These teams swapped conferences as Winnipeg took over as the home for the former Atlanta Thrashers franchise but was stuck in the Eastern Conference for the last two seasons, while Detroit was able to use the realignment to play more teams in their time zone while moving from the Western Conference.
The Red Wings are finishing off their four-game western Canada road swing tonight in Winnipeg and are looking to go 4-0-0 on the trip with a victory in regulation. Their latest win was a 5-0 thrashing of the Oilers in Edmonton Saturday night.
"We controlled the game and played well," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said via NHL.com postgame. "We wanted to play three periods, not two like we did last night [in a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames]."
The Jets have been sputtering and are the only team in the Central Division with a record below .500. Winnipeg hasn't won a game in regulation in its last nine contests, and its latest loss--5-1 at home to the Chicago Blackhawks--gave the team its sixth loss in seven games. The frustration is starting to set in for the Jets.
"I think you could see some frustration in the way that we managed that game," Jets coach Claude Noel said per NHL.com. "I think that in a matter of couple of minutes, the game changed drastically, and certainly when that happens there's a lot of emotion that comes into yourself that is not good emotion, and that is what starts to get to you and is tough."
If the Jets look to avoid dropping another game and increasing that frustration, they will have to stop a Detroit team powered by Pavel Datsyuk (six goals, nine assists, team-high 15 points), Henrik Zetterberg (team-leading seven tallies, seven helpers, 14 points) and Daniel Alfredsson (three goals, team-high 10 helpers, 13 points).
Winnipeg has been paced by Bryan Little (7-4-11) and Andrew Ladd (3-7-10) while Evander Kane (6-3-9), Blake Wheeler (5-4-9) and Dustin Byfuglien (0-9-9) each have nine points.
Jimmy Howard has started 11 of 16 games between the pipes for Detroit, mounting a 5-4-2 record along with a 2.50 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Ondrej Pavelec has manned the crease for the Jets in 13 of their 16 games and is 4-7-2 with a 3.09 GAA to go along with a .902 save percentage.
The Red Wings will look for a sweep of their tour through western Canada while the Jets hope to get it going and avoid yet another loss when the lights come on at MTS Centre tonight in Winnipeg.
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