Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET, the Detroit Red Wings (18-13-9, 45 points) and Nashville Predators (17-18-4, 38 points) hit the ice at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville for the second and final meeting against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Detroit fans can hear all of the bone-crunching action on 97.1 The Ticket while Nashville fans can do the same on 102.5 The Game.
Detroit enters play with the return of some key pieces while Nashville is coming off of a win which snapped a five-game winless streak on Saturday. The first time these two teams met, the Predators shutout the Red Wings 2-0 in Detroit on Nov. 19.
The Red Wings will get goaltender Jimmy Howard back after he missed the last three weeks with a knee injury. Howard is good enough to play but also said he experienced some pain at practice.
"It's one of those things right now," Howard said via the Detroit Free Press, "where I still don't know. I felt it a couple times in practice."
Howard was 6-8-7 with a 2.65 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage prior to the injury. With Pekka Rinne (hip) still on the injured reserve, Carter Hutton is likely to start for Nashville and is 7-6-2 with a 3.07 GAA and a .901 save percentage.
The Predators won for the first time in six games with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.
"I'll actually have a nice sleep," Predators coach Barry Trotz said per NHL.com. "As coaches, we don't get any sleep until we win another game. It just wears on you."
The Predators have been led by David Legwand, who has 25 points off of six goals and 19 assists while Shea Weber is on a five-game point streak and has nine tallies and 13 helpers for 22 points and Craig Smith has found the twine 10 times and added 11 assists for 21 points.
Henrik Zetterberg (back) returned to the Red Wings lineup for the first time in 11 games during Saturday's 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. He's tied for the team lead with 31 points off of 12 goals and 19 assists.
Pavel Datsyuk has six points in his last four games and also has 31 points and leads the team with 14 markers while adding 17 helpers while Daniel Alfredsson has five points in his last five games and is second on the team with 29 points off of 10 goals and 19 assists.
The Red Wings hope having Howard back will provide a spark while the Predators look to notch their second straight win when the lights come up tonight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
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