Devils at Red Wings
Henrik Zetterberg figures to have mixed emotions Sunday as he skates in his 1,000th career game when the Detroit Red Wings say farewell to Joe Louis Arena with a matchup against the New Jersey Devils. The captain, who leads Detroit in scoring with 66 points, will become the 12th Swedish player to reach the milestone in the NHL.
The Red Wings have lost five of their last six contests (1-4-1) after dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to visiting Montreal on Saturday. New Jersey looks to avoid ending the season with a three-game losing streak after dropping a 4-2 decision to the New York Islanders on Saturday in its home finale. The Devils will finish last in the Eastern Conference as they failed to qualify for the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season. It is their longest stretch of futility since a five-season drought that began with the 1982-83 campaign - their first in the Garden State after the franchise moved from Colorado.
TV: 5 p.m. ET, Sportsnet One, MSG Plus 2 (New Jersey), FSN Detroit
ABOUT THE DEVILS (28-39-14): Beau Bennett scored both goals against the Islanders to set a new career high of eight. The 25-year-old right wing's previous mark was six tallies, which he produced in 33 games with Pittsburgh last season. Kyle Palmieri, who is one goal shy of 100 and one point away from 200 in his career, tops New Jersey with 26 tallies and shares the team lead in points with Taylor Hall at 53.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (32-36-13): The team will honor Zetterberg's achievement during a pregame ceremony that undoubtedly will also pay homage to Joe Louis Arena. "I couldn't have picked a better game, I think," Zetterberg told the team's website. "Just how it all fell out to be that game is remarkable. ... It's going to be emotional. We have a lot of players who have played for this team coming in, so it's going to be a lot of faces that (I) played with." Matt Lorito made his NHL debut against the Canadiens and recorded an assist while receiving 14 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time.
OVERTIME
1. Red Wings LW Tomas Tatar leads the club with 24 goals and is two away of 100 for his career.
2. New Jersey C Adam Henrique and D Ben Lovejoy are on track to appear in all 82 games this season, while Zetterberg, Tatar and D Danny DeKeyser are slated to do the same for the Red Wings.
3. Detroit C Darren Helm notched an assist Saturday, leaving him two shy of 100 in the NHL.