Detroit Red Wings vs. Anaheim Ducks: What time, TV channel is today’s game on?

Detroit Red Wings (15-11-4) vs. Anaheim Ducks (11-19-0)

When: 7 p.m. Monday.

Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

TV: Bally Sports Detroit Extra.

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

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Game notes: After facing playoff contenders for most of the past week, the Red Wings finally get a break as the Ducks (who entered Sunday in last in the Pacific Division —yes, even worse than the Sharks, who lost their first 11 games this season) hit the pond at LCA.

Ducks GM (and former Wings player and exec) Pat Verbeek — aka “The Little Ball of Hate” — ruffled a few feathers when he took Swedish center Leo Carlsson over Michigan star (and Hobie Baker winner) Adam Fantilli with the No. 2 pick in this summer’s draft; it’s too soon to tell whether he was right, but Carlsson has been solid, with eight goals and six assists in 21 games after missing the start of the season with injuries. (Fantilli’s at eight and nine, respectively, in 32 games, but who’s counting?)

Of course, Anaheim’s bigger issue in an offense that’s scoring just 2.63 goals a game (fourth-worst this season, despite five goals Sunday night) is the lack of production from human highlight reel Trevor Zegras. A 23-goal scorer each of the past two seasons, the 2019 No. 9 overall pick had one goal and one assist in 12 games before going on injured reserve with a lower-body injury in early November. He’s back practicing with the team now, though. Likewise, defenseman Jamie Drysdale, a 2020 first-rounder, has played just two games. More recently, 20-year-old Mason MaTavish, who starred at the World Juniors last year and had 10 goals and 11 assists in 24 games this season, missed Friday’s and Sunday’s games with an upper-body injury (though he was a game-time decision both nights).

Who’ll be in net for the Ducks? Veteran John Gibson, who received Vezina Trophy votes as recently as 2019, started Sunday in New Jersey, though he was pulled after two periods, just a bit after he allowed his only goal on 19 shots faced. The Ducks later said Gibson was “under the weather”; his replacement, Lukáš Dostál, stopped all 10 shots he faced.

At least the Ducks are getting a career year from 29-year-old Frank Vatrano; despite a seven-game goalless streak, Vatrano’s 14 tallies lead the Ducks and he’s on pace for 38 goals, well over his 22 from last season.

The Wings, of course, are feeling the brunt of injuries, too. Captain Dylan Larkin, who went down last week in a nasty-looking 2-on-1 hit vs. Ottawa — resulting in, yep, “an upper-body injury” — is eligible to come off the injured reserve list today, but head coach Derek Lalonde suggested that would be “aggressive,” especially when keeping Larkin out the rest of the week would give him the holiday break to heal up as well.

The Wings need to find offense from someone, however; despite entering Sunday with the league’s fourth-best offense (3.57 goals a game), they’ve scored just once in their past 120 minutes on the ice, resulting in losses to Carolina and Philadelphia. Forward Alex DeBrincat, who had nine goals in his first seven games as a Wing, has just four since, and only one in his past 11 games (a score in Montreal on Dec. 2). He still leads the Wings in goals and points (26).

Detroit has three more games before the holiday break in what should be a busy week (but isn’t it always at this time of the year?); the Wings zip West to Manitoba to face the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, back home Friday to host the Philadelphia Flyers (who they lost to, 1-0, on Saturday) and then close it out with a trip to New Jersey to exorcise the Devils on Saturday night. The Ducks, meanwhile, wrap up a four-game Eastern swing in Detroit, then head to SoCal for an eight-game homestand, including visits from the Calgary Flames (on Thursday) and Seattle Kraken (on Saturday) before the break).

Live updates

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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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