Red Wings' Larkin will play, Rangers' McDonagh won't
New York defenseman day-to-day with jaw/neck injuries
Larkin, who leads the Red Wings with 19 goals and is three behind Artemi Panarin of the Chicago Blackhawks for the NHL rookie lead, missed the 3-2 shootout loss Saturday to the Ottawa Senators because of an illness.
His 39 points are second on Detroit behind forward Henrik Zetterberg's 41.
"We anticipate Larkin to play," coach Jeff Blashill said.
Goalie Jimmy Howard will start for the Red Wings after Petr Mrazek made 25 saves Saturday.
"I'd like to see from our team a good defensive game," Blashill said. "That's the one thing I don't think we've given him enough of.
"The schedule is such is that I think you need two [goalies], and you have to have the other guy be able to step in and win games when he's called upon. I think Jimmy has played to a level that's capable of winning. I think we have to make sure we give him a real good effort in front of him as well, especially defensively."
The Red Wings end a four-game road trip Sunday on the second night of a back-to-back. They've lost three straight and five consecutive road games after they were 14-6-3 away from Joe Louis Arena at the NHL All-Star break.
"It's funny because we played so well on the road for a stretch there, now we've seemed to kind of get away from that," forward Justin Abdelkader told the Red Wings website Saturday. "I think anytime you're on the road you've got to play a more simple game. I think even at the start of [the game Saturday], we were turning pucks over, weren't getting pucks behind. We're a team that likes to get the tempo as high as possible and skate, and I think we can do a better job of that."
The Rangers are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and have won four straight at home against the Red Wings since Dec. 6, 2009. New York, however, is without defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who is day-to-day with a jaw contusion and neck spasm sustained when he was elbowed in the head by Toronto Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov in the second period of a 3-2 win Thursday.
McDonagh's CT scan came back negative but he's still having issues with his jaw and neck, coach Alain Vigneault said. Defenseman Dylan McIlrath will replace McDonagh in the lineup.
The Rangers recalled forward Marek Hrivik from Hartford of the American Hockey League. Veteran Daniel Paille was assigned to the Wolf Pack.
Hrivik, 24, will make his NHL debut. He has seven goals and 28 points in 52 games at Hartford this season, including three goals and 12 points with a plus-11 rating in his past 17 games.
"He's been in the minors now for a couple of years and I have seen a steady progression since I've been here," Vigneault told BlueshirtsUnited.com. "I'm very anxious to see how he's going to perform tonight."
Vigneault said he is hoping Hrivik provides a spark to the fourth line, where he's looking for an upgrade over Paille (scoreless in 12 games), and to a penalty-killing unit that ranks 28th in the League (77.5 percent).
"For what we need at this time he was the guy probably most suited -- strong on the body, good skill set, and they used him quite a bit there to kill penalties," Vigneault said. "So we'll see what he can do tonight."
Here are the projected lineups:
RED WINGS
Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Justin Abdelkader
Dylan Larkin - Brad Richards - Tomas Tatar
Gustav Nyquist - Andreas Athanasiou - Teemu Pulkkinen
Riley Sheahan - Luke Glendening - Darren Helm
Kyle Quincey - Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith - Mike Green
Xavier Ouellet - Alexey Marchenko
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Injured: Johan Franzen (concussion), Drew Miller (knee), Niklas Kronwall (knee), Jonathan Ericsson (lower body)
Scratched: Jakub Kindl, Tomas Jurco
RANGERS
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Mats Zuccarello
J.T. Miller - Derick Brassard - Jesper Fast
Oscar Lindberg - Kevin Hayes - Viktor Stalberg
Tanner Glass - Dominic Moore - Marek Hrivik
Keith Yandle - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Kevin Klein
Dan Boyle - Dylan McIlrath
Henrik Lundqvist
Antti Raanta
Injured: Ryan McDonagh (jaw/neck), Rick Nash (bone bruise)
Scratched: None
Status report:Pulkkinen, who played for Larkin on Saturday, stays in Detroit's lineup with Jurco a healthy scratch. "When Teemu came out it wasn't necessarily because he played bad," Blashill said. "What it does do, potentially, is it keeps him on our power play. The one thing right now Jurco doesn't have is the specialty team, so that's kind of the crux of the decision." … Hrivik will play on the fourth line to the right of Glass and Moore.
Who's hot:Datsyuk has points in seven of his past eight games (6-5-11). ... Brassard has seven goals and 10 points in his past 10 games. … Zuccarello has 12 points in his past 10. … Yandle is on a five-game point streak (five assists). … Stepan has four goals and seven points in his past five games, with multiple points in three of his past four.
