Lightning at Red Wings
THE STORY: Steve Yzerman played 22 seasons and spent four more years in management with the Detroit Red Wings. Wednesday, he returns for the first time as an opponent. Yzerman took over last season as vice president and general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who visit looking for their first victory over the Red Wings in Detroit since 1994. The Lightning are just 1-12-1 overall in Detroit and have not beaten the Red Wings since January of 2003 in Tampa. Detroit won 6-2 in Tampa Bay last season. The Wings have won five straight and are 9-3-1 in November. The Lightning lost 3-1 in Minnesota Monday to snap a two-game win streak and are 6-6 this month.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Versus, TSN2.
ABOUT THE LIGHTNING (11-10-2): The Lightning outshot Minnesota 33-23 and had numerous chances to earn the road victory, but a few mistakes and an empty-net goal spoiled their night. Steven Stamkos scored his fourth goal in three games, giving him 15. Tampa Bay forward Steve Downie was cleared to play after missing three games with an upper-body injury and could be back in the lineup. Dwayne Roloson is expected to start in goal after Mathieu Garon played the last three. Roloson is 9-17-4 lifetime against the Wings.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (14-7-1): Detroit has been firing on all cylinders most of the month, allowing just 20 goals the last 11 games – nine of them victories. Pavel Datsyuk had four goals and five assists in a five-game point streak before Nashville shut him out Saturday. Valtteri Filppula has four goals the last three games and Johan Franzen leads the team with 10 goals and 22 assists. Forward Patrick Eaves will miss 6-8 weeks with a broken jaw after being hit by the puck Saturday. Defenseman Ian White has 11 points and is a team-leading plus-11.
OVERTIME:
1. Lightning forward Marty St. Louis has 304 career goals, but none in 15 games against Detroit.
2. Wings goalie Jimmy Howard is 2-0 against the Lightning, allowing two goals combined.
3. The Lightning are 7-0-0 when leading after two periods and the Wings 11-0-1.