Okay, so the 14-12-and-2 Red Wings face the 19-7-and-1 Carolina Hurricanes this evening (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/Bally Sports South/97.1 FM), and while Carolina is severely shorthanded due to COVID protocols, they’re starting Fredrik Andersen tonight, who is unbeaten in 11 games vs. Detroit (10-0-and-1).
Carolina will go with 10 forwards and 6 defensemen due to salary cap constraints, and Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis, Ian Cole, Steven Lorentz, Jordan Staal and Andrei Svechnikov are all in protocols, but Brett Pesce and Tony DeAngelo are returning to the Canes’ lineup tonight.
After a blessedly uneventful Carolina Hurricanes morning skate, coach Rod Brind’Amour addressed the media…
Brind’Amour says it’s a great challenge tonight but also a great opportunity. “A great opportunity to show your stuff.”— Chip Alexander (@ice_chip) December 16, 2021
Asked Brind’Amour if it’s odd that league “punishes” teams for a game by making them play short only to let them call up two more players for next game. He sheepishly just said he agreed — not going to poke the fine bear.— Cory Lavalette (@corylav) December 16, 2021
And Carolina’s won 4 of their past 5 games, so the Red Wings are in for a challenge tonight, shorthanded Canes or no shorthanded Canes. Brind’Amour’s team is strong.
ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun also confirmed that the Canes will go with their present lineup (as illustrated in the morning skate post) tonight:
This morning’s tests came back clean for the Hurricanes, no new positive tests for a second day in a row. https://t.co/EV6jkGWtLQ— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 16, 2021
Aaaannndd…
Confirming that the morning batch of COVID-19 testing for the #Canes has come back all negative.
The team will be tested again this afternoon.— Walt Ruff (@WaltRuff) December 16, 2021
Meanwhile, the Red Wings hit the ice for their morning skate just after 11:30:
Bert and Leddy stroll onto the ice in NC this morning ?#LGRW | @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/IAURSodZK4— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) December 16, 2021
Morning prep in Carolina.
?: https://t.co/a1ZFiGyALB pic.twitter.com/TLH9gdOZDY— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 16, 2021
So, we waited for news from the morning skate, given that not all the Wings’ beat writers traveled with the team to Raleigh for a one-game trip (just a reminder: no Robby Fabbri or Michael Rasmussen due to COVID protocols tonight; Kyle Criscuolo, Joe Veleno and/or Taro Hirose might play instead)…
Thanks for the updates George. It’s going to be a tuff game but at least both teams get to play. Too bad the Staal Brothers can’t play against each other. I’m assuming that Ned will be in the net to play against his old team?
I would assume that, given Nedeljkovic’s record of late, he goes vs. Andersen.