PREVIEW: Detroit Red Wings at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m.
Guys like Justin Abdelkader and Drew Miller aren't used to playing top-line minutes, but they'll get a taste of that tonight. The Detroit Red Wings will send a list of "who's that?" to Toronto tonight as the Wings visit the Maple Leafs.
Abdelkader, Miller and Mattias Ritola will comprise the top line as Detroit will leave many of it's top players out of the lineup. Goaltender Jimmy Howard will be one of the few top-tier players in the game. Howard will start and will be backed up by Joey MacDonald.
For Ritola, this could be a make-or-break game. Detroit needs to trim one forward before the season starts and he's currently battling with Kirk Maltby for that last spot. If Ritola doesn't impress Babcock in the preseason, he could be sent down to Grand Rapids through waivers, where it's likely he'd be snatched up by some other team.
The rest of the Red Wings' lineup shakes out like this:
Abdelkader-Miller-Ritola
Maltby-Helm-Coetzee
Owens-Emmerton-Mursak
Tatar-Andersson-Pare/Tardiff
Ericsson-Kindl
Lashoff-Salei
Janik-Smith/Pyett
Howard
MacDonald