Detroit Red Wings once again shuffle lines to try and gain advantage vs. Leafs

The losing continued for the Detroit Red Wings earlier in the week with their 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers; it was the 6th time in the last seven games that they've failed to gain a pair of points.

Tonight, they face the divisional foe Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time this year; both teams are going in completely different directions.

While Detroit has dropped six of seven, the Leafs have won five of their last seven games, including a 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde has once again run the lines through the blender, promoting Michael Rasmussen to the top line alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond, while Alex DeBrincat is now slotted on the 2nd line with Marco Kasper and Patrick Kane.

Per Ansar Khan of MLive, Detroit's line combinations for tonight's game are as follows:

Michael Rasmussen-Dylan Larkin-Lucas Raymond
Alex DeBrincat-Marco Kasper-Patrick Kane
Vladimir Tarasenko-J.T. Compher-Andrew Copp
Jonatan Berggren-Tyler Motte-Christian Fischer

Simon Edvinsson-Moritz Seider
Ben Chiarot-Jeff Petry
Erik Gustafsson-Albert Johansson

Ville Husso will get the start in net, while Jack Campbell has been brought up from the AHL to serve as backup.

The Red Wings were among a handful of teams this year who were expected to take a massive leap forward, given the fact that not only is it the 6th year of Steve Yzerman's tenure as general manager but also that they came within a single point of the postseason last year.

But Detroit has actually regressed at this point in the year compared to where they were last year, and even in 2022 in Derek Lalonde's inaugural season behind the bench.

Unless something major changes, and quickly, the Red Wings are facing a 9th straight year without a postseason appearance.