Pregame: Blue Jackets @ Red Wings – 10/15

Fresh off a 3-2 matinee win in Boston yesterday, the Red Wings host the other team to have made the jump to the Eastern Conference this season as the Columbus Blue Jackets visit Detroit.

With Jimmy Howard still resting his bruised hand (he’s expected to return on Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche), Jonas Gustavsson will make his first-ever regular season start at Joe Louis Arena. Petr Mrazek has been called up from the Grand Rapids Griffins to serve as his backup.

The rest of Detroit’s lineup will remain the same as was used in Boston, meaning Brendan Smith, Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Tatar will be the healthy scratches.

Stupid stat of the day: The Red Wings are unbeaten all-time on October 15 against teams of the late-1990s expansion (1-0, a 3-2 overtime win over the Minnesota Wild on October 15, 2011).

Game time is 8:00 PM (rescheduled from 7:30 PM to accommodate the Tigers’ playoff game) on FSD.