Falling Wings Look To Capitalize At Home

A.K. Bennett on Mon, 2012-03-19 14:49

The Red Wings return home to face off against the Washington Capitals at 7:30 PM tonight. The injuries continue to mount for Detroit as Johan Franzen (back spasms) and Darren Helm (MCL sprain) have joined several others on the injured list. Detroit's Central Division title hopes are fading quickly and now the focus is on keeping a lead over Nashville for the 4th seed and home ice advantage in the first round.

Washington is battling Florida for the Southeast title and its possible the division winner will be the only team from the Southeast to make it into the playoffs. The Caps are 8th in the East and currently 5 points back of Florida and 2 points ahead of division rival Winnipeg.

Neither team has played well in their last ten games (Detroit 3-6-1 and Washington 5-4-1). The Capitals defeated Detroit easily early in the season 7-1. Mike Green had 2 goals and 2 assists and Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mathieu Perreault and Matt Hendricks all had 2 points against Detroit that night.
Detroit is looking forward to playing at the Joe after an awful West Coast trip where they gained only one point out of a possible 8. The Capitals have a lackluster road record (13-20-3) and this game could help Detroit right an ailing ship. Gustav Nyquist was recalled from Grand Rapids and will have a great opportunity skating on the top line with Paved Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi.

Detroit continues to seek a spark for their disastrous power play that hasn't capitalized in 9 games. The Red Wings will play without Nick Lidstrom, Darren Helm, Johan Franzen, Jonathan Ericsson, Jakub Kindl, Joey Macdonald and Patrick Eaves.

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-A.K. Bennett, @MrAdrianKeith

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