The Red Wings came into the match-up tonight following a loss to Edmonton on Saturday when their first win streak of the season came to an end. Their opponent tonight comes in riding a surprising 9-6 record for a team that was expected to be near the bottom of the standings. Leading the Canucks, and a player to watch in this one was Elias Pettersson who had 9 goals and 15 points coming in to lead all rookies. One pundit even made the comparison of Pettersson to a certain former Detroit superstar:
When I started broadcasting in 2002, I had to remind myself not to be the President of the Pavel Datsyuk fan club every time I did a Wings game.