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Detroit Red Wings Resting Stars In Season Finale

By Tony Fischer

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The Detroit Red Wings are in the playoffs but apparently willing to let fate decide who their opponent will be when they start.  Mike Babcock has opted to rest his stars for the grueling playoff run as opposed to trying to improve playoff position. That is the only conclusion that can be drawn from a tweet by Red Wings beat writer Ansar Khan.

Justin Abdelkader may also sit tonight.  The wings forward did not skate with the starters today during the pregame skate and was also left out of the specialty teams skate.  Abdelkader did take the ice afterward but there is not word on whether or not he will play tonight against Carolina.

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To fill in on the roster the Wings called up blue liner Alexey Marchenko.  He will be paired Dekeyser tonight, that should be the teams top defensive pairing with Smith and Kronwall resting.

If the Red Wings lose the season finale in Carolina they could drop into the 7th seed depending on whether or not Ottawa wins.  There is not much difference between the 6th or seventh seed.  The Wings will play either one of two opponents regardless of seed.  Tampa Bay or Montreal will match up with the Wings in the first round depending on the results of their games.

With the field narrowed to just a couple of opponents the Wings have no hand in choosing, it’s no wonder why Babcock opted to rest his stars for the grueling second season. The Wings head man will need all hands on deck to take out one of the top three seeds in the Eastern conference. The Wings have losing records against both Tampa Bay and Montreal.  The Wings have failed to beat the Canadiens in four trys this season while managing to get just one victory against the Lightning.

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