Tonight the Red Wings took on an old rival in the Chicago Blackhawks. Both teams were coming off long layoffs with Detroit not having played since Monday but Chicago had gone almost a full week, not playing since Saturday.
Detroit was of course without Bertuzzi and Vrana tonight giving an opportunity for Kubalik and Zadina to seize opportunities in the top six. One other shakeup this week was Perron and Raymond swapping spots with Perron taking a spot on Larkin’s wing.
The Blackhawks were 1-2-0 to open what should be a bottoming out season for them in hopes of obtaining one of the coveted pieces at the top of next year’s draft.