Detroit Red Wings at Minnesota Wild: What time, TV channel is today's game on?
Detroit Red Wings (16-14-4) vs. Minnesota Wild (15-13-4)
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Where: Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).
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Game notes: It’s Hockeytown vs. the State of Hockey, if we’re to believe the Wings’ and Wild’s eternal marketing slogans — for the soul of U.S. hockey, or something like that.
We’re not going to break down the state (or city) of U.S. hockey — we ran through that just a couple weeks ago with a deep dive on Patrick Kane — but we will note that the Wings feature four players from the metro Detroit area. (In case you haven’t memorized them from the Bally Sports Detroit broadcasts, they are: Andrew Copp, of Ann Arbor; Alex DeBrincat, of Farmington Hills; Dylan Larkin of Waterford; and Jeff Petry, of Ann Arbor.) The Wild, meanwhile, have three players from all of Minnesota: inni Lettieri, of Excelsior; Brock Faber, of Maple Grove; and Alex Goligoski, of (the other) Grand Rapids.
Of course, in the modern NHL, it’s more important what a player can do, and not where he’s from. Still, it’s a bit eye-opening for the Wild’s top four scorers to all be European: Russian Kirill Kaprizov leads the roster with 31 points and is arguably the most thrilling player on the squad, Norwegian Mats Zuccarello is tops in assists (22) en route to 29 points, Swede Joel Eriksson Ek is tops in goals (15) as part of his 24 points and Austrian Marco Rossi is No. 4 in points, with 21 (with 11 goals). New coach John Hynes is getting the most out of his squad; they’re 10-3-0 since he replaced Dean Evason, including three straight wins.
The big question for the Wild, other than “where will the goals come from?” (they’re just 20th, at 3.03 goals per game) is “who will be in net?” Sweden’s Filip Gustavsson is the No. 1 netminder, though his numbers (.904 save percentage, 2.90 GAA) aren’t quite up to his breakout campaign last year (.931, 2.10). His backup is noted foe Marc-Andre Fleury, who has a .894 save percentage and 3.32 GAA against the Wings over his career — pretty close to his .892 and 3.16 marks overall this season. Gustavsson got the start against the Wings on Nov. 26 and gave up three goals on 22 shots, so perhaps the Wild will turn to Fleury, who’s also chasing history. The 2003 No. 1 overall pick needs just one win to tie fellow Quebecer Patrick Roy for No. 2 all-time in NHL wins at 551. (No. 1 is a ways away, however: Martin Brodeur has 691 — 688 with the New Jersey Devils, and three with the St. Louis Blues.)
The Wings have a similar issue in the crease, though not nearly as milestone-laden. With injuries to Ville Husso and Alex Lyon, James Reimer is the ostensible No. 1 goalie — but he hasn’t much played like it in his starts this month. Following an 11-save shutout performance in relief Dec. 9, Reimer has started four games, with 18 goals allowed on 132 shots (.864 save percentage) for a 4.84 GAA. That, at least, includes a victory (the Wings’ 7-6 shootout vs. the Flyers on Thursday) but it hardly inspires confidence. The backup, Michael Hutchinson, has just one appearance this season; he stopped 33 of 36 shots (.917) Saturday night in the Wings’ loss in New Jersey.
Have the Wings solved their own goal-SCORING issues? The Thursday return of David Perron from his six-game suspension sparked something, as the Wings picked up six goals in regulation. But they managed just two Saturday — the fifth time in six games they’ve been held to three goals or less. Despite that, they’re still fifth in the league with 3.53 goals a game, thanks to a power play that has converted 30 times (also good for fifth) on a league-high 139 opportunities (10 more than the No. 2 team).
After tonight’s return to action, the Wings return to Little Caesars Arena for a pair of games to close out the year, facing the Nashville Predators at 7 p.m. Friday and then the Boston Bruins at 5 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. The Wild, meanwhile, have a home-and-home on back-to-back nights (Saturday and Sunday) against their cross-border rival, the Winnipeg Jets (who are 466 miles away from St. Paul, just 68 miles more than Chicago is).
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings game score at Minnesota Wild: Time, TV channel
