Detroit Red Wings at New Jersey Devils: What time, TV channel is today’s game on?

Detroit Red Wings (16-13-4) vs. New Jersey Devils (16-13-2)

When: 7 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit.

Radio: WXYT-FM (97.1; Red Wings radio affiliates).

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Game notes: It’s possible the hardest working folks in the Prudential Center today will already be off the ice by the time the Wings and Devils drop the puck. “The Rock,” as it’s nicknamed, is hosting an unusual doubleheader today, with the Rutgers men’s basketball team facing Mississippi State at noon, and then a 7 p.m.(ish) puck drop for the Wings. And in between? The Prudential Center’s stagehands will be working like a Dylan Larkin breakaway to pull the extra seats and the court off the ice. Good luck, fellas.

IF the Wings weren’t mired in an offensive slumber this month, we might project a old-fashioned slobberknocker, as Detroit entered Friday ranking fifth in the NHL in goals per game (3.5) while the Devils entered eighth at 3.42 — the teams combined for seven goals in the season opener on Oct. 12, then the Wings put up four goals in a shutout on Nov 22. But the Wings were averaging just 2.62 goals per game during their recent 1-6-1 slump, so who knows. Did they use up all their goals on Friday night at LCA, when they scored five times on Philadelphia in the first period, then rallied late in the third for a sixth goal and won it in the shootout, 7-6. Either way, it’s unlikely the Wings will repeat their feats from that 4-0 win over the Devils in November — it featured a 72-second span in which Lucas Raymond, Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri all scored, near the end of the first period.

Even if they can’t duplicate that scoring, the Wings will hope to duplicate their blanking of the Hughes Bros. — and especially their holding of them to one shot combined. Jack Hughes is coming off a 43-goal season and now, at age 22, he’s on pace (barely) for another 40-goal season with 14 tallies in 26 games. That includes two in that opening win against the Wings; when Hughes is on, he’s almost impossible to stop.

In most years, Luke Hughes, the former Michigan star defenseman, would have a solid case for the Calder Trophy (awarded to the NHL’s top rookie 26 or younger), or at least a top-three finish in the voting. His 16 points are tied for eighth among rookies, but No. 2 among rookie defensemen (behind only Anaheim’s Pavel Mintyukov, who we’re not entirely sure isn’t an EA Sports-created fiction) and his three power play goals are tied for first, while his eight power play points are No. 2 among all rookies. Of course, this year features Chicago’s Connor Bedard, whose 12 goals and 16 assists make him a runaway leader in the Calder forecasting.

After this one, both teams — and the rest of the NHL — get Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off before heading back to work Wednesday. For the Wings, that means a visit to Minnesota to take on the Wild at 8 p.m. As for the Devils, they’ll get to stay home for one more matchup, as the Columbus Blue Jackets come to visit, before hitting the road for games in Ottawa, Boston and Washington — the capitals of Canada, Dunkin and the U.S., respectively.

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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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