Earlier this morning, the Associated Press posted a bare-bones Red Wings-Capitals game preview, and this afternoon, Field Level Media posted a second Wings-Caps preview ahead of tomorrow night’s game between the teams (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NBCS Washington/97.1 FM):
The Red Wings have been off since Dec. 18 due to COVID-19 issues. They were supposed to play the New York Islanders on Wednesday but the lack of available players for both sides led to Detroit’s fourth consecutive postponement.
In their last game, the Red Wings downed the New Jersey Devils at home 5-2 as Dylan Larkin recorded his first career hat trick. Tyler Bertuzzi had the other two Detroit goals. But there’s bound to be some rust as the Wings return to the regular schedule.
“It’s unfortunate,” No. 1 goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said. “At this point we just kind of want to play games.”
Nedeljkovic cleared protocols this week and practiced on Tuesday. The Red Wings are hopeful of having most of their players back in action. NHL rookie points leader Lucas Raymond cleared protocol and can return to action, although defenseman Nick Leddy won’t be eligible to come off the list by Friday.
The Red Wings don’t want any more postponements after learning Wednesday’s game was off prior to boarding the plane for New York.
“I was disappointed,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I’m happy for the guys who would have missed the game so they now don’t have to miss the game, but I want to play and get going. We’re all anxious to play again. (But) we all understand these are tough times and we just have to work through them.”
This will be the rubber match of the three-game season series. Detroit won in Washington 3-2 as Larkin scored an overtime goal. The Capitals won on Detroit’s home ice 2-0 on Nov. 11 as goalie Zach Fucale posted a shutout in his NHL debut.
