In fact, the Wings have covered the PL in 13 of their 14 home victories. In Detroit's 14 home wins, they have outscored their opponent 66-22. I'm not the smartest man in the world, but that looks like a 3-1 ratio to me (4.71 GPG - 1.57 GAA).
Ty Conklin has yet to start a game this year at the Joe. However, don't forget he would love to beat his old buddies wearing the Blue Note if he gets the nod because he was their popular backup for the past two years. So I wouldn't discount him if Howard sits.
The Wings have scored at least 3 goals in their last 11 home games, while St. Louis has scored 3 goals only twice in 9 road games under Hitchcock. The Blues have not scored more than 3 goals in any road game under Hitch.
STL is 5-16 when scoring 2 or fewer goals in a game. Conversely, they are 16-0 when scoring at least 3 goals in a game!
STL has scored 7 goals in 3 games vs Detroit this year. The injured Alex Steen had 3 of those goals.
8 of the Blues 9 losses under Hitchcock have been by one goal, so I'm not keen on a Detroit PL bet tonight.
Both teams have 47 points after 37 games. However, Detroit has a +36 goal differential, while STL has only a +13 goal differential.
I believe the Wings top 2 lines will be ready to produce tonight. Babcock's quote below indicates he wasn't happy at all with their effort last night.
"We got a real good night out of (Abdelkader's) line and got a good night out of (Cory Emmerton's) line. The bottom line is we weren't good enough. That's it," he said.
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