Pregame: Blues @ Red Wings – 4/7

The Detroit Red Wings host the St. Louis Blues in a nationally-televised matinee game today.

Getting our stupid stat of the day out of the way… The Red Wings are 24-18-1 in nationally-televised matinee games since the 2005 lockout.

Jimmy Howard will get the start in goal for the Red Wings. Up front, Henrik Zetterberg’s tweaked groin may keep him out of the lineup, in which case call-up Riley Sheahan will make his first appearance in Detroit of the season.

The blue line in a whole other question. With nine healthy defenders, the Wings swapped out half of their defense on Friday night in Colorado and picked up an overtime win. Who stays and who goes for today’s matchup has yet to be determined.

An interesting thing I’m expecting depending on what happens at the Winter Classic press conference prior to the game: If the jerseys unveiled end up being those that were found on eBay in February, which would mean a red vs. blue game at Michigan Stadium, I think we’ll see Detroit in red and St. Louis in blue today, billed as a trial run or to prove that the idea will work or something.

Game time is 12:30 PM on NBC.