NSH VS DETDesperate Red Wings hope for quick start

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By Josh Cooper in Detroit

Three things you need to know ahead of Tuesday's Game 4 between the Nasvhille Predators and Detroit Red Wings:

• Hal Gill won't play tonight. The big Predators defenceman will miss his fourth game this series with a lower body injury, likely sustained on a Sheldon Souray shot in a game against Dallas on April 5. Gill practiced with the Predators for a full on-ice morning skate segment - the first time he has done this all playoffs. The Predators sounded more optimistic that he could return for Game 5. "He's improving every day, made some real good improvement, he's not in tonight, but really good improvement, I thought he looked very good actually," Coach Barry Trotz said.

• The Red Wings put the kibosh on the Predators' table tennis game outside the Nashville and Detroit locker rooms. Both teams' dressing areas are next to one another and during the season Nashville would go in the hallway and play on the vacant table. Yesterday, Predators defenceman Roman Josi and forward Brandon Yip tried to play, but a security guard told them no. "It was a little funny, but nothing to look too far into that," Yip said. "We went out there to play, the security guard said we weren't allowed to play.

• As is with most desperate teams, the Red Wings hope for a fast start. They'll have the energy of their building, and the desire to not go down 3-1 heading back to Nashville for Game 5. It would be the first time in Predators team history they would hold a 3-1 series lead. "It should be a little desperation for sure. We have to win this game to get back in the series," forward Tomas Holmstrom said. "You can talk as much as you want in the past, but you have to do it now, you have to do it today."

Lines

PREDATORS

Offence
Sergei Kostitsyn - Mike Fisher - Martin Erat
Andrei Kostitsyn - Nick Spaling - Alexander Radulov
Gabriel Bourque - Paul Gaustad - Patric Hornqvist
Matt Halischuk - David Legwand - Brandon Yip

Defence
Ryan Suter - Shea Weber
Roman Josi -- Kevin Klein
Francis Bouillon - Jack Hillen

Goaltenders
Pekka Rinne
Anders Lindback

RED WINGS

Offence
Valtteri Filppula - Henrik Zetterberg - Jiri Hudler
Johan Franzen - Pavel Datsyuk - Danny Cleary
Gustav Nyquist - Justin Abdelkader - Todd Bertuzzi
Drew Miller - Cory Emmerton - Tomas Holmstrom

Defence
Nicklas Lidstrom - Ian White
Niklas Kronwall - Brad Stuart
Kyle Quincey - Jonathan Ericsson

Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard
Ty Conklin

Josh Cooper reports for The Tennessean. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaCooper.

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