The final meeting this season between the Wings and Oilers certainly didn’t disappoint, with a hard-fought game ending in a 1-1 tie. Marc Lamothe was solid in net, after some early first period jitters, and remains unbeaten in his 3 NHL starts.

In the first period, the Wings were flat out outplayed by the Oilers, who are trying to sneak into the playoff picture in this final quarter of the season. There is a difference between playing well and playing hungry. Although the Wings may have executed plays well, the Oilers played with an extra level of hunger that set them above the Wings. At 6:58, Jason Chimera scored for the Oilers, assisted by Georges Laraque. On the play, Laraque passed the puck across the crease to a waiting Chimera, who tipped it in for a perfect-execution goal. Lamothe had no chance on the goal, and it really came down to the Wings failing to cover the guy on the backdoor. 1-0 Oilers. After allowing the goal, Lamothe had some jittery moments in net, having a hard time controlling the puck, but he regained his confidence as the game progressed. Shots in the period were 14-6 Edmonton. It was a fun period to watch not in terms of being a Wings fan, but a hockey fan in general. The Oilers are always a high-flying, speed skating team, and it’s really fun to watch their transition game.

In the second period, there was no scoring and yet there was. This is because slumping Brendan Shanahan’s goal was not counted after Tomas Holmstrom was called for goaltender interference on Tommy Salo at 15:33. I can’t imagine the frustration Shanny felt on the bench after the play. Shots in the period were 8-6 Detroit. The Wings slowed down the Oiler’s offense after a first period of leaving Lamothe out to dry, but failed to generate much offense themselves.

In the third period, the Wings really answered the call. After watching the Oilers play with playoff hockey strides for two periods, the Wings got themselves into that mode as well. It was an entertaining period. Shots on goal were very hard to come by, as the puck always seemed to deflect off a skate or body in front of the net. With less than 8 minutes left, the Wings finally cracked Salo. At 12:56, Nicklas Lidstrom scored on a beautiful wrist shot from the right circle, assisted by Steve Yzerman and Ray Whitney. On the play, Yzerman made a cross ice pass to Lidstrom, who handled a bouncing puck and got off a knuckle-ball wrist shot that beat Salo high. It was nice to see Edmonton native Whitney crack the scoring sheet as well, with the second assist. 1-1 tie. Shots in the period were 8-6 Detroit, the same as in the second. But the third was a much better effort for the Wings. Lamothe made some critical saves late to secure an overtime period.

Going into overtime, it was an exciting atmosphere knowing the Oilers would be pressing hard for the extra point, with their playoff picture on the bubble. They weren’t going to pull Salo though, because doing so in overtime means you forfeit the point guaranteed before overtime commences. It was a tight period, with shots even at 4 apiece. Final shots 30-26 Edmonton.

It was a good pace of action tonight, especially in the third period with the Wings battling back for the equalizing goal. Hopefully they bring that kind of intensity tomorrow night against the Canucks.

Notables: Scratches on the night were as follows. Boyd Devereaux with a facial laceration, and Jason Williams and Jason Woolley both listed as healthy scratches, though I know that Woolley still has a sore back….Ray Whitney’s dad, who was a practice goalie for the Oilers decades ago, took some shots from the Wings coaching staff this afternoon. He was going to naturally join the Oiler’s practice, but they didn’t have a vacant net for him….Marc Lamothe, one of tonight’s three stars, is the Wings’ forth goaltender this season….Former Oiler’s stickboy Ray Whitney had a great night, with an assist, +1, team-leading 4 shots on goal, and 20:43 of ice time. I wish the Wings could bottle up his energy and have him use it every game, because he really flew out there….Joe Louis Arena was voted as having the best ice, and Edmonton’s Rexall Place (formerly known as Skyreach Centre) came in second.

FSN Goofs: This is a new section where I’m going to detail all of the Fox Sports Net blunders of each game. Tonight was an ordinarily bad night for the FSN crew. For the entire first period, the game clock and period number that usually show up on the scoreboard were absent. In the second period, when the crew woke up and put the clock and period number on the scoreboard, they were on the money with the time but had “1st period” up for the first five minutes of the second. Way to go guys!!

(Editor: Here are the lines from the game, courtesy GWB)
Whitney-Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Maltby-Draper-Yzerman
Thomas-Mowers-McCarty
Thomas-Datsyuk-McCarty
Thomas-Zetterberg-Shanahan
Zetterberg-Yzerman-McCarty
Shanahan-Zetterberg-McCarty

Fischer-Chelios
Rivers-Dandenault
Lidstrom-Schneider
Schneider-Dandenault
Lidstrom-Chelios
Fischer-Rivers
Lidstrom-Dandenault
Schneider-Chelios

PP-
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Yzerman-Holmstrom
Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hull

Whitney-Lidstrom
Draper-Schneider
Lidstrom-Schneider

PK-
Maltby-Draper
Shanahan-Yzerman

Lidstrom-Chelios
Fischer-Schneider

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

Lidstrom-Chelios
Fischer-Dandenault
Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios

Net-
Mark Lamothe

Tonight is the fourth and final matchup between the Wings and Oilers this season. The series is 2-0-1-0 in favor of Detroit. Most recently, the Wings beat Edmonton 2-1 last Monday with Legace in net. The Wings are riding a three game win streak into this short trip out West, where they will face Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary. This is an important trip for the Wings. Not only is it 3 games in 4 nights, but the Wings will be facing up against Vancouver defenseman Bryan Allen. This is the thug who broke Henrik Zetterberg’s leg on a dirty slash and got into a minor collision with Derian Hatcher that left him with a torn ACL. I look for some payback in the Tuesday night matchup against the Canucks.

The Oilers are coming off two big wins. Last Wednesday, they beat the Avs 5-1 in Denver. It was an emotional victory by the Oilers, and left the Avs bitter and frustrated.

“That was our worst game of the season. The bounces weren’t going our way, and we weren’t doing anything to create any bounces.” (Colorado coach Tony Granato)

“It ranks right up there with the game in New Jersey last year and the game in Vancouver this year. Both times we were playing the hottest team in hockey, we were really struggling and came away with wins.” (Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish)

“That’s probably the worst game since we’ve been here — we were flat. We were just terrible. No excuse for it; it was just embarrassing.” (Avalanche captain Joe Sakic)

Then on Saturday, the Oilers beat the Canucks 4-3 in overtime. The Canucks were without leading scorer Markus Nasland, and this was their second loss in a row. But it was still a exciting win for Edmonton, who are currently out of the playoff picture by 7 points to eighth seed St Louis.

For the Wings, divisional standings are pretty much a lock with the recent win over St Louis and a current 13 point margin in the Central. The Wings are now looking toward a Western Conference title, as well as a league title. The Wings are tied for first in the West at 80 points with Colorado, and only Ottawa has more points in the league with 81. With Colorado struggling as of late, going 4-3-1-2 in their last ten, this is our chance for the Wings to jump ahead.

After five straight starts by backup Manny Legace, with Cujo injured, Marc Lamothe will get the start tonight. It will be his third NHL start, and first with the Wings. The other two came in 1999 with the Blackhawks.

Notables: Ray Whitney is excited for tonight’s game. He grew up in Edmonton, his father was a practice goalie for the Oilers, and Ray was a stick boy for the Oilers during their championship seasons of 1987 and 1988. So there’s going to be a Ray Whitney cheering section tonight in the Rexall Place.

Defenseman Jason Woolley will not play tonight, still sore with his back injury. He enjoyed the Wings’ Saturday off: “For my back, it was good. I just iced it and laid around and did pretty much nothing, and that’s what I needed.”

According to the Free Press, the Wings were one of the teams actively going after former Chicago center Alexei Zhamnov before he was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Hawks immediately asked for Jiri Fischer, a player the Wings are obviously not willing to give up and so, after discussing other options, they took the Flyers’ offer. It seems to me that the Wings’ new organizational depth is causing some problems for them in situations like that. The rest of the NHL knows the Wings have a need but they also know who the Wings have and they seem to be taking advantage of it by making it tough for Ken Holland to make a deal which would actually help the Wings. There seems to be a concerted effort to avoid making a trade with the Wings and it is especially noticeable to me when I look at the trades that do go through around the league. The Flyers got Zhamnov for very little and the same goes for the Sens with Peter Bondra. I think the desire for top young prospects outweighs the need to drop large contracts, at least when the opportunity arises to make a trade with the Wings. I thank Holland for standing fast and refraining from trading away the talent the organization was smart enough to find. The other teams are obviously trying to make up for the mistakes of passing over guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg in their respective drafts. I personally doubt the Wings will be able to acquire a big name by the March 9th deadline because of their stance on their talent. I am confident, however, that Holland will find someone who fits the Wings’ need, just as he has so many times in the past.

Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News believes Dominik Hasek should go back to the Czech Republic and leave the Wings alone. I completely agree. The fact that Dominik is still hanging around the team after abandoning them sickens me. The last thing the Wings need is for him to continue being a distraction. Ken Holland had better do something about it soon so when the team returns from their three-game, four-day Western Canada trip, they no longer have to see Hasek’s face around while they carry on with their daily affairs. Dominik is done in Detroit and there is no reason for him to be allowed to stick around. If he absolutely has to continue attending the team’s games, that’s fine. He should not be allowed to be around the team otherwise, however, and the Wings need to end it or they could have a serious problem down the road. Get Dom to give the team the money he hasn’t earned and then get him the heck out of here.

Ken Holland has provided a little clarification on the rule he wants implemented. Instead of outlawing goalies playing the puck completely, he wants to see them restricted for playing the puck forward. That means they would be able to stop the puck from going around the boards but they would not be able to advance it past the goalline. I like the clarification more than the initial proposal but I am still against it. I’d rather have goalies be fair game so they can choose whether to risk going out or not. They currently have no reason to fear leaving the net and that is the reason they have been able to have such an impact on the flow of the game. If they had a reason to think twice about going out, they wouldn’t do it so much but would still be able to play it if they have to.

The Red Wings manhandled the Central Division rival St Louis Blues before a sold-out crowd at Joe Louis Arena, stacking up 5 goals on Blues goaltender Reinhard Divis for a 5-1 win. Manny Legace got the start.

While it has become fairly commonplace for the Wings to beat the Blues, this game was different. The Blues are usually a stellar defensive team, but they looked ragged and sloppy tonight. This is primarily due to injuries. Barret Jackman is out for the season, Alexander Khavanov and Jeff Finley are both on the IR, and Captain Al MacInnis has been out indefinitely since suffering an eye injury in October. I would hate to see Al go out this way, but it’s likely that MacInnis will never play NHL hockey again. The Blues have been unable to adjust to their rash of injuries. Ex-Wing goaltender Chris Osgood has become the whipping boy of the organization, but it is partially deserved with his 5-12-4-0 record in his last 21 starts. After the Blues’ 4-3 win over the Lightning Thursday, coach Joel Quenneville had this to say on Ozzie’s play: “Ozzy wasn’t very good tonight. He’s got to be better.” But the Blues’ offense isn’t taking the pressure off of Ozzie, with only 137 goals after 58 games. The Blues looked more like the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight, showing a few offensive bursts, but never really taking it to the Wings. It was an easy win tonight.

In the first period, Kirk Maltby opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 11:38, assisted by Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom. The play featured Maltby passing the puck to the net, and following in to pick up his own pass. He faked to his backhand, causing Divis to sprawl onto the ice, and backhanded the puck into a wide open net. It was Maltby’s 10th goal of the season. The Wings lead the league in shorthanded goals, this being the team’s 15th. 1-0 Wings. Reed Low roughed up Mark Mowers along the boards with a crushing check. A scrum resulted, and Darren McCarty confronted Low and dropped the gloves expecting hard-nose Low to follow in turn. Low turned down Mac’s offer to the fans’ chagrin. The first period was penalty-filled, with the Blues and Wings each taking three penalties. Shots in the period were 13-9 Wings.

In the second period, Henrik Zetterberg scored a power play goal at 0:38, assisted by Brett Hull and Ray Whitney. The goal resulted off a shot on net by Hull, followed up by a Zetterberg rebound shot as he waited on the back door. It was Zetterberg’s 10th goal of the season. 2-0 Wings. After pretty ordinary back-and-forth action, the Blues snuck in on the scoring on a quick bang-bang play from Chris Pronger to Keith Tkachuk to Doug Weight at 5:22, who buried the biscuit to make it 2-1 Wings. The Wings came back in on the scoring on a power play goal from Henrik Zetterberg, assisted by Ray Whitney and Mathieu Schneider. Like his first goal of the game, Henrik was deep in on the Blues net, and stuffed it in at 16:31. 3-1 Wings. Shots in the period were 14-7 Wings.

In the third period, Darren McCarty scored at 6:26, assisted by Steve Thomas and Henrik Zetterberg. In the play, Henrik Zetterberg basically cycled the puck by himself along the boards in the Blues’ zone. It was a great individual effort by Henrik, as he grinded along the boards to retain possession of the puck. He gave a quick no-look pass to Thomas, and Mac took a pass from Thomas and got off a wicked wrist shot. 4-1 Wings. While Zetterberg didn’t score this goal, and only got the second assist, he was the catalyst of the offensive pressure and this effort was by far his best of the game. A quiet Ray Whitney got his second goal in 15 games at 16:08, assisted by Brett Hull and Pavel Datsyuk. 5-1 Wings. It was nice to see that Ray remembers how to shoot the puck, because he’s been more of a replacement for Igor Larionov Assist-King than the Wings had likely expected. His ten goals this season certainly are a disappointment when compared to last season, when he had 24 goals, 52 assists, and 76 points through 81 games with the Blue Jackets. Shots were 11-10 Wings, 38-26 Wings for the game. The Blues really looked emotionless in the third, not mounting a very stellar rally to come back from a two goal deficit. They looked lifeless and confused out there, as the Wings controlled the flow of the third. Manny Legace had a strong game for the Wings, making a few impressive glove saves and stoning the Blues on their few great scoring chances.

Notables: Steve Yzerman continues to reach milestones, playing in his 1,432nd game tonight. This ties him with Mike Gartner for 14th All Time. Detroit leads the league with 15 short-handed goals. Penalty-killing specialists Maltby and Draper have four and five, respectively. Multi-point efforts tonight: Hull (2 assists), Whitney (1 goal, 2 assists), Zetterberg (2 goal, 1 assist). The player of the game was definitely Henrik Zetterberg. Chris Osgood, who was listed as “Expected to start Fri. vs Det. 2/20″ on the ESPN IR, was shaken up in the Lightning game Thursday night, so Divis started for the Blues. Fox Sports Net continued its reputation of terrible Red Wings’ broadcasts with a pixelation problem during the end of the third. They were roughly ten minutes from a perfect broadcast, which they have yet to achieve this season.

(Editor: Here are the lines from the game, courtesy of GWB)
Thomas-Mowers-McCarty
Whitney-Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Maltby-Draper-Yzerman
Thomas-Zetterberg-McCarty

Fischer-Chelios
Lidstrom-Schneider
Rivers-Dandenault

4 on 4-
Maltby-Draper
Datsyuk-Hull
Shanahan-Zetterberg

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios

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

Schneider-Draper
Whitney-Lidstrom
Lidstrom-Schneider
Lidstrom-Draper
Fischer-chelios
Schneider-Chelios
Fischer-Dandenault

5 on 3PP-
Holmstrom-Yzerman-Hull

Lidstrom-Schneider

PK-
Maltby-Draper
Shanahan-Yzerman
Whitney-Zetterberg

Lidstrom-Chelios
Fischer-Schneider

Net-
Manny Legace

The Philadelphia Flyers have added former-Chicago Blackhawk captain Alexei Zhamnov to their roster in exchange for Jim Vandermeer, Colin Fraser and a fourth-round pick in the 2004 draft. The Flyers were in need of a center after losing star Jeremy Roenick to a concussion/broken jaw and Keith Primeau to a concussion of his own. They traded away Mike Comrie, another veteran center who they acquired this season from the Oilers, to the Phoenix Coyotes for goalie Sean Burke just before the Roenick and Primeau injuries occurred.

The Wings were rumored to be interested in Zhamnov and will now have to look elsewhere for a center, if they are actually looking for one. Washingon’s Robert Lang is an option but the Caps have already traded away Jaromir Jagr and Peter Bondra this season and may not be as open to such a deal as before. Other options for big, skilled forwards include Alexei Kovalev or (this is a big, big maybe, just throwing it out there) Sergei Fedorov. The not-so-skilled option is Georges Laraque.

I’m disappointed the Wings couldn’t get Zhamnov, though they say they weren’t interested in the first place. It is a good thing, though, that he has gone to the East and not to another Western Conference team where he would be a factor in the playoffs.

Tonight is the fifth of six games between these two teams this season. The season series is now 2-1-1-0, the Wings with the advantage. The Wings lost 6-5 in the October 29 bout, the ninth game of the season. Since then, the Wings have won 2-1 on November 29, tied 4-4 on December 4, and recently won 2-1 on December 22 versus the underachieving Blues.

The Blues are 4-6-0-0 in their last ten, but, most-recently, have won three straight. On Monday, they had a convincing 5-2 victory against the Phoenix Coyotes. In the wake of the Burke deal, the Coyotes are slumping, with Boucher going 3-7-3-1 in his last 14 starts since the historic 5-game shutout streak. Last night, the Blues had a 4-3 overtime win against the Lightning, with Doug Weight scoring the game-winning goal. This win was big for the Blues, who currently trail the Wings by 12 points in the Central Division. And it came against the red-hot Lightning, who, coming into St Louis, had gone 10-1-1-0 in their last 12 before taking the overtime loss. This emotional victory by the Blues gives them some confidence coming into Joe Louis Arena for the second night of a back-to-back. The Blues are floundering in the playoff mix, currently holding the sixth seed, but just one point away from losing a playoff berth. This is the cost of not winning their division, and they will likely have to battle to the very last day of the regular season to even secure a playoff spot.

Looking at the overall playoff picture, the Wings are tied for the league lead with Colorado and Philly at 78 points. With a comfortable lead in the Central Division, the Wings need to start pushing for the Western Conference crown in their remaining 22 games. Home ice advantage in a Wings/Colorado series would be a great luxury. Despite the Avs having the best road record in the NHL, Joe Louis Arena is where the Wings love to play in the heat of the playoffs.

Manny Legace will get the start again and will be backed up by the Griffins’ Marc Lamothe. Dave Lewis said Lamothe may get the nod in the Wings’ back-to-back against Edmonton and Vancouver next Monday and Tuesday, but that is looking increasingly unlikely with the Wings’ tight race with Colorado for the Western Conference title.

Notables: Thursday practice was 45 minutes and very eventful. While running drills, Boyd Devereaux collided with Chelios, and was knocked to the ice. While he had to be helped off to the bench, he returned to complete practice. I’m sure it was a scary moment with Boyd’s history of serious concussions. Jason Woolley had an “an executive workout.” Sore from a strained back that he suffered Monday night versus the Oilers, he relaxed and got a massage. He likely will not play until next week.

And Hasek’s bizarre behavior continues. After shocking the Wings with news that his season is over, he has unexpectedly stuck like a leach to the team. Since the announcement, Hasek has watched Wings games in the locker-room lounge or from his suite. He attended a wine-tasting charity event, and has dropped by the locker-room on several occasions. I find this very odd. The Wings, who have watched Steve Yzerman battle through complex knee surgery to return to the ice, likely find Hasek’s giving-up as a weak effort to return. He took shots in practice the day of the announcement, and should have at least tried to play in a game before hanging the skates up. And it doesn’t help that Hasek is not even on speaking terms with Cujo, the guy the Wings are trying to rally around. Associate coach Barry Smith: “He’s not playing, so he still wants to be part of the team. He’s not going on the road trip.” Good. Hasek is old news, and, as far as I’m concerned, not part of this organization any more. He will never play for the Wings again, and his comeback only threw the team into disarray. So I don’t know why the Wings are allowing him to hang out with a team he is not a member of. Word is that GM Ken Holland has said that, if Dom�s presence becomes a distraction, he will address it.

Red Wings & Movies/TV Shows

Which reality show would you like to be on?
Chelios: I don�t watch reality shows, to be honest. (Chelios asks out loud: �Hey, what�s a good reality show?� A few Wings shout back, �Survivor.�) I�ve never seen that show.
Favorite cartoon?
Chelios: The Flintstones

Are you a Sesame Street fan?
Mowers: All the way.
Favorite character?
Mowers: Oscar the Grouch. He is the best.
Have you ever gotten hooked on a soap?
Mowers: I will not say I was hooked, but I was borderline hooked on “Days of Our Lives.” I’m not a full-time watcher.
But you can watch the show and know what’s going on?
Mowers: Yeah, I know all the characters. Does that make me hooked?

Favorite TV shows?
Al Sobotka (Zamboni driver): I like anything with hockey, or other sports, too. I’m a big sports fan. I like comedies too, like Friends and Seinfeld re-runs.

Best Harrison Ford movie?
Rivers: The Fugitive. That�s a great movie. I�ve watched that one more than a few times.

Red Wings & Vacation
Favorite place to go on vacation?
Chelios: Malibu.
That doesn�t count. You live there.
Chelios: OK, then, fine. I�ll go with Greece.

Best vacation?
Holmstrom: I went to Greece with my wife, brother and his girlfriend. It was so relaxing. We spent 10 days on the beach, riding around on Vespas (mopeds) and eating well. I was so relaxed just doing nothing. When I go home to Sweden for vacation, I’m always busier. You have to see people, go to the post office, things like that. When we were in Greece, we literally did nothing but relax. I loved it.

Favorite vacation spot in Michigan?
Al Sobotka: Elk Rapids or Traverse City. They’re both beautiful there. Great places to relax.

Warmest place you�ve ever traveled to?
Rivers: The Bahamas.

All interview questions & answers from Detroit News