Stevie Y Returns 

Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings head down to Amalie Arena to battle Tampa and to take on his former team while showing off his rising stars. For Lightning fans, what Steve has done in the short time he’s been the General Manager of Detroit shouldn’t surprise. Yzerman’s eye for talent stretches back to his days in Tampa. He helped mold that team into who they are today through the draft. Bringing high caliber future stars in Nikita Kucherov, Ondrej Palat and Vezina Trophy winner Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Red Wings Lightning Preview

Wings look to keep the momentum rolling from Tuesday night’s OT thriller. They head down to Florida for the weekend to face the Atlantic’s top two teams. First stop against a Lightning team who seems to always be a battle for Detroit. Tampa is 6-2-2 against the Red Wings in their last ten games. Detroit took a heartbreaking 7-6 overtime loss in their home opener back in October when they faced off for their first matchup of the season. Since their 2016 playoff matchup and the departure of Steve Yzerman back to Detroit these two teams have brewed quite the rivalry and left us with nothing but exciting hockey.

Key Points For Tonight’s Game 

Dylan Larkin and the top line must produce and capitalize off their chances. We need our top guys to come in early and set the tone for this hockey game. Defensively Detroit will need to play together. Get after loose pucks and keep the spacing on the ice to a minimum. After Tuesday’s game against Carolina you saw a lot of scaring chances due to laziness in the defensive zone you cannot have that tonight they will make you pay. Without Nedeljkovic standing on his head for 60 mins plus the outcome of that game may have been different. I’m 100% looking for Blashill to make adjustments to cater to our defense and their task ahead.  Last but not least the Red Wings will need to stay out of the penalty box against this team. The Lightning’s power play is dangerous. You do not want to find yourself behind and chasing this high scoring skilled offense.