Report: Red Wings, Blues to face off in season opener

A classic Central Division rivalry will be one of the marquee games on opening day.

That’s the word out of Detroit on Wednesday as both MLive.com and the Macomb Daily report the Red Wings will begin the 2013 campaign on Jan. 19 against their longtime rival, the Blues, at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

The Detroit-St. Louis feud was reignited last season as the Blues captured their first Central Division crown in 12 years, snapping Detroit’s grasp on the banner (the Wings had captured nine of the last 10 division titles.)

Detroit won last year’s season series 3-2-1, which included a number of heated moments:

– In November, Chris Stewart was suspended three games for boarding Niklas Kronwall.

– In December, Justin Abdelkader ran into Brian Elliott, then David Perron returned to favor on Jimmy Howard (see here).

“I had the puck covered, I didn’t see anything coming, and just got my head taken off,” Elliott said.

“I’m not taking that, I don’t care who it is,” Howard said. “If you’re going to run into me that like or try to go through me like that, you’re going to pay the price.”

– In January, Ian Cole was suspended three games for hitting Abdelkader in the head.

If the reports are accurate, it’s a pretty solid feud to play up.

Should also be noted that — again, according to MLive and the Macomb Daily — the Red Wings will follow-up their opener against the Blues with a game against Columbus.

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