From today’s morning skate in Detroit, it seems that there has been some juggling on the forward lines. After losing 6-4 against the Penguins on Thursday, the team practiced with three different line combinations, and it seems that Rickard Rakell will be swapped out of the lineup for William Karlsson, who will make his NHL debut tonight. Corey Perry will be looking to add to his goal total after netting a hat trick against the Penguins, while Ryan Kesler scored three points, including his first goal as a member of the Ducks. Wingers Dany Heatley and Kyle Palmieri are still out for the Ducks.
Ducks forward lines:
Patrick Maroon – Ryan Getzlaf – Corey Perry
Matt Beleskey – Ryan Kesler – Devante Smith-Pelly
Andrew Cogliano – William Karlsson – Jakob Silfverberg
Emerson Etem – Nate Thompson – Tim Jackman
Meanwhile, the defense pairings seem to be largely intact from the Pittsburgh game. Bryan Allen is still suffering from a lower-body injury. Sami Vatanen has picked right back up from where he left off last postseason, netting two power-play assists in Thursday’s game.
Ducks defense pairings:
Cam Fowler – Ben Lovejoy
Hampus Lindholm – Francois Beauchemin
Clayton Stoner – Sami Vatanen
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As for the Red Wings, they are coming off a 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins. After scoring 28 goals in 57 games last season, Gustav Nyquist scored the game-winning-goal on Thursday, while Justin Abdelkader also scored for Detroit. Meanwhile, Andrej Nestrasil made his NHL debut against Boston, registering just under 13 minutes of ice time. On the injury front, Pavel Datsyuk is still out with a shoulder injury.
Red Wings forward lines:
Justin Abdelkader – Henrik Zetterberg – Johan Franzen
Tomas Tatar – Riley Sheahan – Tomas Jurco
Andrej Nestrasil – Darren Helm – Gustav Nyquist
Joakim Andersson – Luke Glendening – Drew Miller
On the Red Wings blue-line, Niklas Kronwall logged 21:53 in ice time, which led the team. Danny DeKeyser also played more than 20 minutes and registered a secondary assist on Abdelkader’s goal. It seems Brian Lashoff will once again be a healthy scratch tonight.
Red Wings defense pairings:
Niklas Kronwall – Jonathan Ericsson
Danny DeKeyser – Brendan Smith
Kyle Quincey – Jakub Kindl
In net, Frederik Andersen (0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000%) will get the nod for his first start of the 2014-2015 season. Bruce Boudreau stated that he expects Andersen and John Gibson to each get two games on the four game road trip. Opposing Andersen will be Jimmy Howard (1-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .941%), who stopped 16 of 17 shots against Boston for the victory.
Jason Byun is one of the editors for Pucks of a Feather. He can be found on Twitter. For more Anaheim Ducks coverage, follow Pucks of a Feather on Twitter or like us on Facebook.