A Red Wings-Senators Penultimate Preseason Notebook

The Red Wings play their final home game of a long preseason schedule Friday night, taking on the Ottawa Senators. After icing a mostly NHL lineup against the Toronto Maple Leafs the night prior, this Detroit group will likely feature a lighter complement of NHL skaters. Let’s break down what you need to know heading into this game.

Lineups: Compher Back, Lyon Likely in Net, Sens Choose Prospect-Heavy Group

Detroit’s optional morning skate was sparsely attended, although a few notables took the ice. Defenseman Simon Edvinsson was there, which means he’s playing the second game of a back-to-back today. So were prospects Nate Danielson and Carter Mazur, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game against the Maple Leafs. And one face that hasn’t been on the ice much due to maintenance days — J.T. Compher — also made his return to the ice.

“Tonight is important for him to get those quality reps,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde explained. “This is a unique exhibition schedule. We play six games in six days, but this is the last opportunity to get some reps until we played in a week, which is obviously when you want to be peaked out.”

Detroit will have to catch Compher up to the rest of the group. In a similar way, it’s also an opportunity to get goaltender Alex Lyon up to speed, too, in what is likely to be his one full start of the preseason. Lalonde’s plan remains to give his NHL starters full games to get acclimated. Lyon is due for his, after Talbot played a full 60 against the Maple Leafs and Husso did so on the road in Pittsburgh.

In the case of Lyon, he is in an odd position where he’s the incumbent starter for Detroit, but that situation came from circumstance more than any real planning. He has to prove himself all over again this preseason, with Talbot and Husso also looking strong in their respective performances. It’s likely that the goaltending battle lasts into the season, so long as Lyon proves his confidence in that equation.

For the Senators, this is the final road game of the preseason slate, followed by a home game Saturday against Montreal. That game will be Ottawa’s dress rehearsal for the season, so to speak, so the lineup it will send to Detroit is prospect heavy. That means no David Perron homecoming, for now. You’ll have to wait until the regular season.

There are still some notables in the mix for Ottawa, including scrappy forward Tyler Boucher, recent first round pick defenseman Carter Yakemchuk, as well as defenseman Donovan Sebrango, a former Red Wings pick who was traded away in the Alex DeBrincat deal last summer. The expectation should be for Detroit to wholly control this game even with a lighter complement of NHLers, although in previous preseason games the Red Wings struggled to do the same with their top line players.

Where to Watch

Tonight’s game starts at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on its usual TV home of Bally Sports Detroit. Radio station 97.1 The Ticket will also broadcast the game.

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