Tonight is the fifth of six games in which these two teams play each other this season. The Wings lead the series 3-0-0-1.

Despite having lost over 170 man-games this season, the Wings went 8-2-2-1 during the month of December and 17-5-3-1 since losing to the Canucks 5-1 on November 3. They are coming off a lucky 2-2 tie with Minnesota where they outshot the Wild 40-24 but saw four shots beat Curtis Joseph and hit the post/crossbar.

The Hawks have had several key injuries of their own, namely Alexei Zhamnov, Eric Daze and Jocelyn Thibault. They have been unable to play through them like the Wings have, however, and have had an awful season. They’ve gone 2-13-4-3 since Thibault’s last came on November but were riding a four-game unbeaten streak going into Friday’s game with the Columbus Blue Jackets. They lost the game 4-1 and gave the Jackets their first road win.

Since Joseph started on Friday, I’d expect Manny Legace to play tonight.

Tomas Holmstrom is scheduled to make his return to the ice tonight. To make room for him, the Wings sent Darryl Bootland back down to the Griffins.

Darren McCarty is making progress and he hopes to begin light skating later this week. There is no timetable for his return but he could return by the end of January if he continues to improve at the rate he has in the past two weeks.

Dominik Hasek skated briefly yesterday. Lewis said “Dom is going through a very controlled, on-ice individual workout” and added that there is no time frame for his return. Wonderful!

Tonight is a good chance for the Wings to get another win and keep their lead on the Western Conference. They lead the #2 team, Vancouver by three points and the #3 team, St. Louis, by four. Toronto is leading the league with 51 points and the Wings are just two points back with 49. I don’t expect an easy win for Detroit since the Hawks always seem to step it up, like most Original Six teams, when playing the Wings. A good example: They were on a 14 game winless skid when they shocked the Wings with a 4-3 overtime win on December 11.

News | ESPN

Since Brian already said pretty much all I had to say, I’ll forego the game summary this time.

But I will give the lines and a small injury report:

Derian Hatcher skated by himself yesterday for about 20 minutes. He has been injured ever since the October 16 game against Vancouver, when he tore his ACL. By the way, it is believed that he suffered the injury in a minor collision with defenseman Bryan Allen, the same guy who broke Henrik Zetterberg’s leg.

Tomas Holmstrom wanted to play last night but Lewis sat him out and said the “target date” is Sunday’s game in Chicago. He has not played since November 26 when he separated his shoulder on sort of a bonehead play. The Wings’ power play should increase production with him back on it.

Chris Chelios has been cleared to play in the New Year’s Eve game against the Atlanta Thrashers. He sprained his knee on December 8 against the Kings. The stepped up play of Mathieu Schneider and Jason Woolley has really made up for his being gone.

Darren McCarty will start exercising soon, according to Dave Lewis. He injured his back on November 8. He has had to get three anti-inflammatory injections to ease the swelling in his bulging disks and has not been able to do very much.

Hasek will skate today, according to Lewis.

The Wings would like to bring Igor Grigorenko over to the States for an examination in a month or so.

Source for above: Freep

Minnesota lines-
Zetterberg-Yzerman-Shanahan
Whitney-Datsyuk-Hull
Maltby-Draper-Dandenault
Devereaux-Mowers-Williams
Shanahan-Yzerman-Draper
Maltby-Mowers-Dandenault

Lidstrom-Woolley
Fischer-Schneider
Kronwall-Rivers
Kronwall-Schneider
Lidstrom-Schneider

4 on 4-
Maltby-Whitney
Zetterberg-Yzerman

Lidstrom-Woolley
Fischer-Schneider

PP-
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Yzerman-Draper

Whitney-Lidstrom

PK-
Draper-Maltby
Datsyuk-Zetterberg
Yzerman-Whitney
Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Yzerman

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Woolley
Fischer-Schneider
Dandenault-Woolley

O.T-
Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Yzerman
Zetterberg-Whitney
Maltby-Draper

Lidstrom-Woolley
Schneider-Dandenault
Kronwall-Fischer

4 on 3 OT-PK-
Draper-Maltby
Shanahan-Yzerman

Lidstrom

Net-
Curtis Joseph

The Wings’ home winning streak was snapped at 8 games, and the Wild extended their unbeaten streak to seven games in the 2-2 tie tonight at Joe Lewis Arena. Henrik Zettterberg and Kris Draper got the goals for the Wings, and Marian Gaborik and Wes Walz notched the Wilds’ goals. With 15 seconds left in the second, Gaborik got the first goal of the game on a breakaway, pulling ahead of Lidstrom (fair to say burning him) and putting the puck through Joseph’s pads, the puck trickling through and barely crossing the line. Two minutes into the third, Zetterberg got the equalizer on a pass along the boards that was tipped in by the Wilds’ Sergei Zholtok, earning him the Paul Coffey Gaffe of the Game Award (in reference to Paul Coffey’s attempted pass to behind the Wings net that ended up in our net). Niklas Kronvall was credited with the assist on the play that tied the game at one apiece. Wes Walz scored five minutes later on a neat play where Willie Mitchell sent a pass-shot to Walz who snuck in on the back door, unmolested by the Wings defense, and stuffed it into the wide open net. Truly a weak defensive effort by the Wings. But Kris Draper earned the Hustle Award of the Game when he blocked a Willie Mitchell pass with his shins in the Wild zone, knocked Mitchell to the ice, then blasted the puck into the net for his 14th of this season, just one goal away from a career best 15 goals scored in the 2001-2002 season. The Draper goal was unassisted, if it’s not obvious enough from the fact that he single-handedly stole the puck and buried it. The game was then tied at 2-2, and went to overtime. The Wings got a silly too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with 1:42 remaining in OT, and held on for the 2-2 tie. The Blues tied the Avs 3-3 tonight too, so the Wings failed to widen their division lead and remain four points up on the Blues.

One major disappointment from the game was the play of Nick Lidstrom, as he ended up the trailing man on two Wild breakaways, and allowed the breaking man to shoot, and, in one instance, score. Then Jason Woolley missed a wide open net on a rebound off Roloson. So Lidstrom and Woolley shall share the Goat of the Game Award.

I’m not going to continue with any more awards, because it’s starting to get silly, but Brett Hull certainly was deserving of an award to acknowledge his invisibility on the ice. He really didn’t get a clean shot on Roloson all night, and, when Datsyuk or Draper gave him a decent pass, Hullie was often not ready to shoot, or (gasp) not in position to get off his trademark cannon shot. He was pretty nonexistant out there, and I’m wondering whether he’s injured or something, because he’s been off his game the past week.

Joseph played well tonight, but was also lucky, as he was actually beaten four times but the post stopped the other two shots, one shot hitting the post and going behind Joseph along the goal-line and the other hitting the crossbar with the game on the line. Roloson was solid for the Wild, making 38 saves on 40 shots.

The Wings ended the game with 40 shots to the Wilds’ 24. The Wings’ strongest period was the third, notching two goals on 19 shots. The Wings only got one powerplay on the night, but failed to convert.

Greg Kimmerly and Dan Marouelli were the referees tonight, and didn’t call the game very well, in my opinion, as the Wild really bulldozed some Wings players over in front of the net and got off scott free. A lot of interference went uncalled, for both team might I add.

Also, Niklas Kronvall had a strong game for the Wings, assisting on the goofie Zetterberg goal. He was even out on the ice in the last minute of regulation, with an important point on the line. This truly reflects Coach Dave Lewis’ confidence in Kronvall, giving him such important ice time. The Wings’ next game is Sunday at 7:00 EST in Chicago.

Wings’ associate coach Barry Smith, who came with Bowman in 1993, and was, in many eyes, shafted when Lewis was hired as head coach, is now seeing his name in the rumor mill for the head coaching positions in Florida and Buffalo. Smith was Bowman’s associate coach in Pittsburgh.

The head coaching job in Florida will be open at the end of the season, since GM Rick Dudley fired coach Mike Keenan and took over explicitly for the rest of the season. Lindy Ruff’s job is in limbo in Buffalo with the Sabres currently last in the Northeast. Smith gave no indications that he was actively pursuing any head coaching positions: �The goal right now is to help this team win a Stanley Cup.�

One interesting fact is that Smith was a head coach for a time when he left the Red Wings during the 1996-1997 season to become the head coach of Malmo in the Swedish Elite League. Luckily for the Wings, they were able to talk him into coming back, and he returned in time for our playoff run and Cup win in 1997. He was also a “head coach” when Bowman was recovering from knee surgery during the 1998-1999 season, but the title was shared with other Wings’ assistant and current head coach, Dave Lewis. The tandem had a 4-1-0 record.

Tonight is the third of four games this season between these two teams. They skated to a 1-1 tie on November 15 in the first game and the Wings won the second 5-2 on November 22.

The Wings are looking to add another win to this season’s 14-3-0 record at home and to extend their eight game winning streak at the Joe to nine games. Their last four games have been one-goal games, including three at home. They are coming off a very important win over the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

After going 2-6-2 in the ten games before their win over the Sabres on December 13, the Wild are unbeaten in six, a season high for them. Their offense is on fire and has scored 20 of their 77 goals during that stretch. Minnesota is coming off a 3-3 tie with the Predators in which they came back three times before the end.

Curtis Joseph will likely start tonight, though Manny could as well. The two goalies will probably split the next two games so whoever sits tonight will most likely play Sunday.

Tomas Holmstrom is listed as out so don’t expect to see him tonight.

Steve Thomas is two to four weeks away from a return.

Tonight is another important game for the Wings, who really have very little room to make mistakes and lose with the rest of the Western Conference right on their heels. The Wings had a four point lead over the rest of the Conference and were back just one point of the NHL leader, Toronto, but that could change very quickly if the Wings lose their focus. This is just another opportunity for the Wings to get a win over a hot team and continue to climb the standings.

Freep | News | ESPN

Good News / Bad News:

The good news is that Igor Grigorenko has returned to the ice after his aweful car accident. His injuries included a broken left thigh bone and two fractures of his left shin bone, as well as post-surgery complications that left him with a life-threatening fat embolism in his left lung. Playing for the Russian team Lada Togliatti, Igor made an impact in his first game back since the May 15th accident. He played 19 minutes, registering an assist and the game winning goal. Hopefully, he’ll make a strong appearance at training camp next year and will make the team. Just think of a potential line of Grigorenko, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg…

The bad news is that the Dominator hasn’t dominated yet and it looks like he won’t have a chance to for awhile. After having an MRI on his groin, indications are that he won’t be able to play “in the near future.” Remember he’s being paid $6 million dollars this season, with the $2 million forfeited from his contract after he bargained for a no-trade clause that might haunt the Wings with Joseph playing so well lately and $15.1 million dollars of goaltending being paid for. You must remember, professional hockey is a business, and we are paying for Mr. Hasek’s services right now. And much of Hockeytown simply doesn’t buy that the guy came back here for the team, but rather for personal reasons. He’s had some financial problems with the release of his clothing line and such. I don’t want to judge, but the guy really hasn’t talked up the possibility of winning a Cup. He hasn’t sounded that motivated to me. And by a recent letsgowings.com poll, 42.8% of 1256 fans want Hasek traded and Cujo kept, to 35.5% who just said to keep Cujo, to only 21.5% who said trade Cujo; numbers that clearly favor Cujo over Hasek, at least right now, as Wings fans quickly turn on their goaltenders.

Just a few short notes since Brian did such a good job of summarizing the game already.

It was good to see the Wings rise to the occasion and get a win in such an important game even though they must be reeling from having to play so often in such a short period of time. They played 12 games in the first 22 days of December though thankfully only six of them were on the road and none on the West Coast. The people in charge of NHL scheduling sure are geniuses. The fact that the Wings have played one to six more games than everyone else is in itself ridiculous. It will all even out in the end, I know, but right now it’s completely unfair.

Curtis Joseph has been great in his last six games. He kept the Wings in it again last night and has really made a case for himself. I realize he’s really only playing this well because he’s getting steady work but he’s really making a case for himself. I’m sure Dominik Hasek would be doing much the same if he were getting steady work and was healthy but he has not demonstrated that he is able to be healthy and so take the steady work. I say that if Hasek cannot make a real comeback from this groin injury of his after getting a week off, he should go back into retirement while he still has some kind of a positive reputation around the league and the rest of hockey. If he continues to go in and out of the lineup and play inconsistently, he will ruin his own image and end up being going out a joke rather than the star he left as in 2002. I’m not convinced he has it in him to complete his comeback. He needs to prove it to me and the rest of Hockeytown’s Faithful. Joseph is in the process of proving himself right now. It’s time for Dom to step in and do the same.

Pavel Datsyuk is amazing. There’s not much else I can say. His effort night after night combined with his skill make him one of the best players in the league. His defensive play gets better with every game and he shows us something new on offense every night. Jim Nill (who looked like death warmed over last night in the pre-game show. Send him to Florida to get a tan, Mr. Illitch, he’s earned it.) and Ken Holland are geniuses for finding Pavel.

The same with Henrik Zetterberg.

Brian said “it appears that Nick Lidstrom has caught the Pavel Datsyuk pass-by-all-means bug.” That’s true but why apply that only to Nick? I say the entire team has gotten it, though Pavel seems to have a much less serious case than he used to. The Wings can’t seem to get enough passes off and their power plays are just passing clinics. I’d like to see some shots on the power play for once.

I didn’t like seeing Chris Osgood get hurt near the end of the game. I don’t think he should have played tough guy and stayed in but the Wings fan side of me is glad he did because that left the Wings vulnerable to a goal. The Wings scored the game winner soon after. Ozzie has some kind of knee injury which will hopefully keep him out of a few Blues games which would help the Wings a lot since he’s played very well this season.

Once again, it was not a very exciting game until the end when it became a mad scramble to score.

It was the second time the Wings have beaten the Blues 2-1 this season and they now lead the season series 2-1-1. I love it when the Wings play the Blues…….

The Wings are now 22-11-3-1. They lead the Western Conference and the Central Division by four points and the league by one. They now have three days off which will hopefully be enough for at least Tomas Holmstrom back in the roster (though Dave Lewis said he doubted it).

I’ve written more than “just a few short notes” already so I’ll stop now.

Next up: vs. Minnesota, Friday, 7:30 EST

Freep | News | ESPN | Box Score

Lines-
Zetterberg-Mowers-Shanahan
Draper-Datsyuk-Hull
Whitney-Yzerman-Maltby
Devereaux-Williams-Rivers
Whitney-Datsyuk-Hull
Zetterberg-Yzerman-Shanahan
Devereaux-Mowers-Williams
Maltby-Draper-Dandenault

Lidstrom-Woolley
Fischer-Schneider
Kronwall-Dandenault
Woolley-Dandenault
Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Woolley

4 on 4-
Shanahan-Yzerman

Schneider-Dandenault

PP-
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Yzerman-Whitney

Lidstrom-Whitney
Lidstrom-Woolley
Kronwall-Woolley

PK-
Draper-Maltby
Draper-Zetterberg
Shanahan-Yzerman
Datsyuk-Hull
Zetterberg-Datsyuk

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Dandenault

Net-
Curtis Joseph