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Detroit Red Wings at Tampa Bay Lightning

Sat Nov 147:00 PM ETESPN+Tampa, FL
By JR·2 min read
Red Wings(7-10-3)
Lightning(13-4-2)
Saturday 11/147:00 PM

TLDR: Tampa Bay is missing 2 of its top centers and keeps winning anyway. On Saturday, November 14, a Detroit team that has spent the week losing on the road tries to make that streak of injuries finally cost the Lightning something.

SUN 11/15, 7:00 PMESPN+
Red Wings
(7-10-3)
LLLLL
Lightning
(13-4-2)
WWLWW

Tampa Bay keeps winning without Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli and Erik Cernak, most recently 3-1 in Columbus behind 2 goals from Brandon Hagel, even while getting outshot. Detroit had lost 4 straight through Tuesday and arrives on the 3rd stop of a road swing, with Rasmussen scratched and Kasper back from IR. The game turns on whether the Red Wings can win the center-ice matchup against a Lightning middle that is thinner than it has been all season.

Detroit Red Wings
  • Copp and Raymond both multi-point in St. Louis
  • Kasper back from IR, adds a center
  • Tampa missing 2 top centers to attack
  • Lost 4 straight through Tuesday
  • 3rd road game in 5 days
  • Rasmussen scratched after defensive misplays
Tampa Bay Lightning
  • Hagel scored 2 and assisted Guentzel's winner at Columbus
  • Hildeby stopped 28 of 29 on the back-to-back
  • 3-1 on the road trip without key pieces
  • Point on IR, Cirelli out: thin at center
  • Cernak out on the blue line
  • Outshot by Columbus despite the win

Here's how the week shaped up. Through Tuesday, Detroit had lost 4 straight, the last a 3-2 loss in St. Louis where the Red Wings scored first and couldn't hold it. Andrew Copp and Lucas Raymond both had multi-point nights, so the top of the lineup showed up and the result still didn't. Thursday was the first stop in Florida against the Panthers, and Saturday's game in Tampa is the third road game in 5 days. Whatever Thursday did to the skid, the travel is the same either way.

The Lightning's problem is down the middle. Brayden Point went on injured reserve after leaving the Winnipeg game with a lower-body injury, and Anthony Cirelli left the Buffalo game early and missed Columbus. With both out, Jake Guentzel and Zemgus Girgensons are taking draws at center. Erik Cernak is out on the blue line too, and Yanni Gourde also sat out in Columbus. That's a lot of Tampa Bay's 200-foot game missing at once.

So far it hasn't mattered. Tampa Bay won 3-1 in Columbus on the back end of a back-to-back without Point, Cirelli or Cernak. Brandon Hagel scored twice and set up Guentzel's 3rd-period winner, and Dennis Hildeby stopped 28 of 29. Columbus outshot them, though, and that's the warning sign. A thinner lineup has been getting by on finishing and goaltending more than control of the puck.

Detroit is shuffling things too. Michael Rasmussen was a healthy scratch for the Florida game after a run of defensive mistakes, and Carter Mazur took his spot. Marco Kasper came off injured reserve on November 10, which gives the Red Wings back a center at the same time Tampa Bay is down 2 of theirs. If Detroit has a matchup to go after, it's that one: make the Lightning's patched-together middle defend for 60 minutes.

Detroit Red Wings
(7-10-3)
11/13L@Panthers4-5
11/11L@Blues2-3
11/08L@Avalanche0-4
11/06LvsGolden Knights1-2
11/04L@Lightning2-4
Tampa Bay Lightning
(13-4-2)
11/13W@Blue Jackets3-1
11/12W@Sabres8-3
11/08L@Jets3-4
11/08W@Wild4-3
11/06WvsBlackhawks4-1

Tampa Bay comes home from a 4-game road trip that went 3-1, with Saturday off after the back-to-back in Buffalo and Columbus. Puck drop at Benchmark International Arena is 7:00 PM ET. The board hasn't posted yet, so this one is about the matchup for now. Can Hagel and Guentzel keep covering for 2 missing centers, and can a Detroit team in the middle of a lineup reshuffle turn decent stretches into 3 periods?

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