Wings to open against Predators
Season opener set for Oct. 12 at Joe Louis Arena
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| Henrik Zetterberg and his Red Wings teammates will open the 2012-13 season against the Nashville Predators at Joe Louis Arena on Oct. 12. (Photo by Getty Images) |
DETROIT – The Red Wings won’t have to wait long to get a crack at the team that eliminated them in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last April.
The 86th season-opener in Wings’ franchise history will pit the Original Six club against its Central Division rival, the Nashville Predators, at Joe Louis Arena on Friday, Oct. 12.
The Predators defeated the Wings in the Western Conference quarterfinals, needing just five games to advance in the best-of-seven series.
The opener against the Predators will mark the first time that the two clubs have started a season against one another. Nashville will be the 23nd different club to open an NHL season against the Wings, who are 37-34-14 in season openers.
Columbus, Edmonton, Minnesota and Phoenix are the only Western Conference teams that the Wings haven’t faced in an opener.
In past season-openers on home ice, the Wings have posted a 28-16-6 record – that’s a .620 winning percentage. The opener against the Predators will be the ninth consecutive season that the Wings will open at home, which includes the 2009-10 season when the club began the campaign as the ‘home team’ against St. Louis in Stockholm, Sweden.
In years that the Wings won the Stanley Cup they began the season by winning the opener 81 percent of the time, posting an 8-1-2 record. Meanwhile, the Predators – in their short NHL existence – are 7-6-0 in season openers with a 3-3-0 mark in road openers.
