Overview
Tonight is the fourth and final game between these two teams this season. The Wings have won all three previous games, with two scores of 3-2 and one score of 5-4. That first win was the season opener, by the way.

After going 7-0-1, the Wings have gone 0-1-1 and two of their last three games have been poor efforts, though they only lost one of them. They are coming off a 1-1 tie with the Coyotes, a game which was not a poor effort by any stretch and one in which they were arguably robbed of that all-important second point in a tight race with Colorado for the #1 spot in the Western Conference. It was the first match in a five-game, eight-day road trip that will take them to Anaheim, San Jose and Colorado after tonight’s game in LA.

The Kings will look to avoid losing three straight tonight in an effort to stay in the playoff race. They are #9 right now, just one point behind Nashville for the 8th spot and two behind St. Louis for the 7th. They are coming off a 5-3 loss to San Jose on Thursday, the second of back-to-back losses and the third in four games for the Kings. They are just 1-2 on a five-game home stretch. History is in their favor, however, since the Wings have not swept a season series with the Kings since the ’69-70 season. Hopefully that will change tonight.

This is yet another must-win game for the Wings who are just four points ahead a surging Colorado team in a very tight race for the top spot in the West. They cannot afford any slip-ups this late in the season, especially since they did not get that second point Thursday night and considering the Avs’ considerable strength. If they want home ice later on, they have to continue winning now, injuries or no injuries.

And speaking of injuries
Curtis Joseph aggravated his ankle Thursday night when Phoenix’s Daniel Cleary fell on him but he didn’t let it bother him for long. “It just burns for a little while, but that’s going to be part of it, I think. After a minute or so, it stops burning…,” he said yesterday. Not all that encouraging in a way but at least he’s playing through the pain, unlike some goalies we know. I’m not sure what Lewis will do tonight since Manny is playing so well but it’s obvious Joseph needs to get some serious playing time before the post-season.

Derian Hatcher likely will not return tonight. Apparently, the injury wasn’t quite as benign as was announced. He and the trainers have determined it must have been a mild shoulder separation and since it is still weak, he will sit out tonight’s game. He has already missed one game due to the injury and may come back tomorrow night in Anaheim if it feels any better.

For the first time since cracking a rib on Match 8th, Robert Lang skated with the team. He said

“It’s still the same. It’s just that you want to do the things you’re able to do. Just easing into it. The progress is there. I just want to be careful not to push it too hard and go back to two weeks again. Just kind of baby steps. Do a little bit more every day and see how it goes.”

Lewis on Pavel
Pavel Datsyuk made his return after missing six games on Thursday, logging a little more than 19 minutes, taking four shots, winning nine of 16 faceoffs and being a minus-1. Head coach noticed the same thing I did: “His passing, his decision-making … just a little off.” That is to be expected after missing six games and especially since he rushed himself back. Lewis spoke, I think, for every Wings fan on the planet when he said “But it’s sure great to have him back in the lineup.” Rusty or not, it was great to see Pavel play again. We’ll likely see the old Datsyuk tonight after having that one game to warm up and get back in the swing of things.

Not Wings-related
If you haven’t read Greg Wyshynski’s The Joy of Bashing Hockey Fans yet, you have to. It’s a great article. Thanks to VanCanOpEd for the link. Read it now.

ESPN
Freep

I started this little weblog one year ago today with this post:

My first post…… Things are going well with the Wings, they won last night (beat the Pens 5-1) and have won 5 in a row. They’re still #1 in the West but 2 points behind Ottawa still. Zata didn’t get a point last night, neither did Hully or Pavel. Luc finally scored and Feds had 2.

Not a very long post compared to what gets posted here today, to be sure. Back then, I never would have imagined writting so much and getting so many hits. It was just a private hobby site which I called, rather redundantly, “zata40fan’s Wings fan blog” and was known only to a couple people, myself and Brian really. Things began slowly, with posts mostly consisting of links to articles in the paper and a tiny bit of analysis. Because I was just starting off, I used the same guy who compiles the lines for fellow Wings fans on an e-mail list for the game summaries, Gerry Brierley. He doesn’t do those any more which is the main reason we started doing our own, though it was a logical progression anyway.

I soon changed the site’s name to “On the Wings” and gradually began to cover the team more, through their first round elimination to Anaheim, before I moved on the rest of the league until the playoffs ended. Instead of taking a break from the site over the summer, I continued covering the team through one of the more eventful off-seasons of the past few years.

Here is a summary of the major events concerning the Wings over the past year…..

Read the rest

In a high-flying, oddball offensive showdown in Glendale Arena, the Wings tied the Coyotes 1-1, putting the season series at an even 1-1-2. Coming into the game, most expected Manny Legace to get the start, since Cujo had missed practice for a scheduled appointment with an ankle specialist and complained of soreness in his ankle. But Cujo got the start for the Wings, and had a great game between the pipes. Pavel Datsyuk also returned to the ice earlier than expected, as Lewis had said “I’d hope (he’d play) by the end of the road trip.” It was a gameday decision, and Assistant Coach Joe Kocur announced it on the radio earlier in the day. Pavel had been heavily lobbying Coach Lewis to play for the past week.

In the first period, both teams were skating pretty well. Coyote defenseman Cale Hulse gave Pavel Datsyuk a cross-check/punch to his face, but luckily Pavel’s visor took the brunt of the force. The Wings were 0 for 2 on the power play in the first, coming close on a few chances. Steve Thomas had a pretty good chance around 12:50. Shots in the period were 11-9 Phoenix.

In the second period, Brendan Shanahan scored at 11:40, assisted by Henrik Zetterberg. On the play, Henrik had a great faceoff win to Brendan, who blasted it in high on Brian Boucher. 1-0 Wings. Fischer had a great chance in front off of a neat pass from Zetterberg. Unfortunately, Boucher was cleanly square to the shot, as he was for nearly every single Wings shot tonight. Shots in the period were 13-8 Wings.

In the third period, Erik Westrum scored his first NHL goal at 2:11, assisted by Fredrik Sjostrom. On the play, Phoenix won the faceoff and Sjostrom got a shot off. Westrum ate up a huge rebound that Cujo allowed. He caught Cujo way out of position, and stuffed it into a wide-open net. I didn’t like how Cujo threw his stick at Westrum as he shot the puck into the wide open net. If the guy misses the net, it’s an automatic penalty shot. And there’s just something dirty about doing that. It shows a lack of respect for the shooter, and, as a goaltender, is a poor reaction to give when you’re out of position. Cujo was really frustrated that he gave up such a elastic rebound. 1-1 tie. The Wings were very impressive in the third. They had a couple textbook style power plays, and Boucher stood on his head to keep the game locked up at 1 apiece. Cujo saved the day for the Wings, as Shane Doan broke in on him with just under two minutes left in the third and he stoned him: “The best save of the game was on Doan,” Coach Lewis said. Shots in the period were 20-7 Wings, a clear-cut 20 minutes of domination that would’ve normally reaped a few goals.

In the overtime period, both teams went hard for the win. The Coyotes had their reasons to want a win, since they are winless in their last fourteen decisions at 0-8-3-3: since the February 24th firing of Coach Bob Francis, Rick Bowness is winless as interim coach. An octupi was thrown on ice during the extra five-minutes, and Hull scooped it up with his stick and put it over the boards in the Wings’ bench. Apparently the refs didn’t want anything to do with that.

With 6 seconds left in the game, Cujo telegraphed a pass to Shanny from nearly the Wings’ blue line. Shanny took the pass and crashed the Phoenix net, the puck going in off Schneider’s skate as time expired. Upon review, bonehead ref Mike Leggo waved the goal and put .2 seconds on the clock. His logic was not that time had expired, but that he had lost sight of the puck during the play and had the intention of blowing his whistle even though he physically hadn’t. In the NHL, rules allow the referees to say that they were blowing the whistle in their head, which is a bogus rule if common sense isn’t weighed in. Mr. Leggo My Ego made a terrible call that may cost the Wings a playoff seed, with the tight race versus the Avs for the Western Conference title. To me, the puck was in clear view the entire time. I heard no whistle, and saw the puck cross the line before I heard the buzzer. But that’s assuming that the buzzer is calibrated with the game clock, which I’d hope is the case. I thought that the puck might’ve crossed the line a few ticks late, but the buzzer sounding contradicts this. If Leggo had said that the puck crossed the line after time had expired, I might’ve believed him, thinking he had a better camera angle and the buzzer was late. But it’s ridiculous for him to disallow the goal based on his inability to follow the puck. Maybe he needs the ABC glow-puck back or something (remember that?), but I had no trouble following the puck for that 6 seconds. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, but the puck is black and the ice surface is white, Leggo.

The benches were nearly empty as the puck was dropped as a formality, with .2 seconds not being enough time to shoot the puck and score. Final shots were 47-29 Wings, 5-3 Wings in OT. Throughout the game, the teams traded breaks and odd-man rushes, but Boucher and Joseph rose to the challenge and kept the score tight.

Shanahan weighing-in on the controversial ending: “The referee said he thought the puck was covered and he intended to blow the whistle so the play was dead as soon as he intended to blow the whistle and not when he actually did blow it. It was a quick whistle. Even though he didn’t blow it, it was a quick intention to blow the whistle. I guess the rule is as soon as the ref intends for the play to be dead the play is dead.”

Notables: Brian Boucher had a season-high 46 saves on 47 shots….During practice, Shanny was cut in the neck by Darren McCarty’s skate, but, by the luck of the Irishman, he wasn’t seriously hurt. In addition, Shanny has 6 goals in the last 8 games….FSN had some really bad camera work on the Phoenix goal, and they seemed just as caught off guard by the quick faceoff shot as Cujo….Zetterberg had a good night, passing and skating really well….Ex-Wing Pat Verbeek was the color commentator on FSN, subbing for Mickey Redmond, who rarely takes away trips anymore after he was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1996….It was the battle of the 19′s tonight, as both teams’ captains wear the illustrious #19: Steve Yzerman and Shane Doan….Shanahan’s goal was the 557th of his career, putting him in sole possession of 17th place on the NHL scoring list, passing John Bucyk. Shanny is seventh in goals for active players, and third on the Wings, behind Hull and Yzerman….Derian Hatcher says he hopes to return Saturday at Los Angeles. He skated Thursday morning.

Steve Thomas logged only 12:38 of ice time tonight, and hasn’t been very visible since returning from his injuries. Thomas was red-hot when he suffered a knee injury, requiring arthroscopic surgery and sidelining him from December 8 to January 21. January 29, he suffered a cracked rib, and didn’t play until mid February. The Wings signed him November 5 as a free agent: the Mighty Ducks passed on him.

The tie puts the Wings at 97 points, tied with Tampa Bay for league lead. The Wings are one point away from clinching the Central Division, with St Louis 16 points back with 8 games left and Nashville 17 points back with 9 games left.

(Editor: here are the lines from the game, courtesy GWB)
Shanahan-Zetterberg-McCarty
Holmstrom-Williams-Mowers
Thomas-DATSYUK-Hull(Welcome back pavel!)
Maltby-Yzerman-Whitney
Maltby-Mowers-McCarty
Shanahan-Zetterberg-Williams

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios
Myrvold-Rivers

4 on 4-
Datsyuk-Hull
Whitney-Yzerman
Zetterberg-Maltby

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios

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

Lidstrom-Schneider
Schneider-Rivers
Whitney-Chelios
Whitney-LIdstrom
Whitney-Chelios

PK-
Whitney-McCarty
Zetterberg-Maltby
Yzerman-Maltby
Shanahan-Yzerman

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

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

Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios

O.T. PK-
Yzerman-Maltby
Shanahan

Chelios
Schneider-Fischer

Net-
Curtis Joseph

Tonight is the fourth and final match between the Wings and Phoenix this season. It is also the start of a five-game, eight-day, West trip for the Wings, taking them to Phoenix, LA, Anaheim, San Jose, and Colorado. Hey, maybe on the Wings’ downtime, Sergei can invite the guys to his not-making-the-playoffs party?

January 16, the teams tied 3-3 at the Joe. Cujo was in net and Henrik Zetterberg tied the game up with 1:44 left in the third. January 24, the Wings lost 5-2 at Glendale Arena. It was the Brian Boucher Show, as the record-breaking goaltender had 44 saves on 46 shots. February 18, the Wings turned the table on the Coyotes with a 5-2 win at the Joe. Legace got the start and Draper had two goals in the last 1:50. In that game, Hull tied Dave Andreychuk’s NHL record for most career power-play goals with his 263rd. So the season series is tied at 1-1-1, with this final matchup at Phoenix deciding the bragging rights between the teams.

The Coyotes have been out of the playoff picture for awhile, with their current 62 points to eighth seed Nashville’s 80. As a result, the organization fired Coach Bob Francis on February 24th, and promoted assistant Rick Bowness as an interim coach. The Coyotes are struggling big time, winless in their last thirteen decisions at 0-8-2-3. This could be due to the revolving-door of a roster down in Phoenix. The following addresses changes in the second half of the season. They traded away Jan Hrdina, Sean Burke, Branko Radivojevic, Mike Sillinger, Chris Gratton, Ossi Vaananen, and Brian Savage. They acquired Derek Morris, Brent Johnson, and Mike Comrie. The deficit of players traded to players acquired reflects the salary-dumping mindset of a team that has realized it will not make the playoffs and is preparing itself for post-CBA madness. They have been shuffling players in and out of their AHL affiliation in Springfield, which is, by the way, set to expire at the end of this season.

The Wings have been shuffling players in and out of their AHL affiliation in Grand Rapids, but not for the same reasons as Phoenix. Yesterday, the Wings recalled defenseman Anders Myrvold from the Griffins. The Wings are poised to make a serious playoff run, but injuries have forced them to dip into their depth of talent and call on the young guys of the organization to fill in for the regulars. As it stands, the Wings are at first place in the NHL with 96 points, with Tampa Bay flanking with 95. But the Wings need to zoom in to the Western Conference picture before they get their eyes on winning a Presidents Trophy, since the Avs have awoken from relative mediocrity and are 5-3-1-1 in their last ten. The Wings lead the Avs by only three points. The race for the Western Conference title will most likely come down to the away-home series versus the Avs, March 25th and 27th. These are the final meetings between the Wings and Avs this season, with the series tied at 1-1.

Coach Dave Lewis has indicated that Curtis Joseph probably will not play tonight. He had an appointment with an ankle specialist recently, and has complained of soreness. Manny Legace is expected to get the start tonight.

Injury Updates:

The Wings’ parade of injuries continues with the recent shoulder injury of Derian Hatcher in his fifth game back with the Wings. The extent of the injury appears minor, as Hatcher is listed as day-to-day with a bruised shoulder. The injury came as a result of a third period collision with 6″ 3′, 232 lb Flame Chris Simon.

Some good news is that Pavel Datsyuk has been lobbying Coach Lewis to play, and might play tonight versus the Coyotes. I don’t expect the Wings to rush Pavel into the mix though, since our depth has allowed us to get along fine without him. Pavel skated with the Wings for the first time Tuesday morning. Lewis on Pavel’s status: “I’d hope (he’d play) by the end of the road trip.”

Kris Draper, who hasn’t played since suffering a partially torn left rotator cuff March 3 in practice, also skated with the team Tuesday morning. Drapes on how the shoulder feels: “I did a little bit of passing. Today was probably the first day that I could do that. Each time I tried to pass a little bit harder, just to kind of see where I can go with it. It felt good. The way it looks, I think every day (trainer Piet Van Zant) is going to kind of give me a little bit more rope to kind of try to push it.” Coach Lewis has his status as “week to week.�

New Wing Robert Lang hopes to skate today. He is hopeful, yet patient: “You never know. A miracle could happen, and it would be perfect. But I think at this point I’ll just take it nice and easy. There’s no sense in rushing it to play the last four games or last two games.”

Award Winning FSN?

FSN is not exactly award winning, coming from a Wings fan who is often boisterously critical of the network’s coverage. But the voice of the Wings’ play-by-play and the endless pool of Red Wings knowledge and trivia, Ken Daniels, is, as he was named Michigan Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Through the satellite blips and pixelation issues, I couldn’t agree more that Ken Daniels is a top notch sportscaster. His partner in crime, Mickey Redmond, also has gotten some recognition for his work as color commentator in the past. He was named the Best Color Commentator in the Detroit News’ “The Best of Michigan for 2003.”

Playoff Picture:

Clubs officially eliminated from playoff contention include Phoenix, Chicago, and Columbus in the West, and Washington and Pittsburgh in the East. Soon to be eliminated are Minnesota and Anaheim in the West, and the Rangers, Carolina, Atlanta, and Florida in the East. Clubs that are fighting for playoff contention outside the current eight seeds are LA and Edmonton in the West, and Buffalo in the East. Currently, five of six Canadian clubs are set to make the playoffs, with Edmonton on the bubble in the West. And right now, Toronto and Ottawa are fourth and fifth seeds, respectively, in the East, which would set the stage for a first round battle between the rivals.

Derian Hatcher’s injury isn’t as bad as we all feared. He has a bruised shoulder from his collision with Chris Simon last night and is listed as day-to-day. Team spokesman John Hahn said today that it is unknown whether Hatcher will be able to play Thursday night in Phoenix. He could not finish the game last night and left in the third period after hitting Simon behind the net.

The Wings have recalled Anders Myrvold from Grand Rapids, hopefully just as insurance.

This certainly is a relief. Losing Hatcher again for a long period would have been terrible and would have made an already tough up-coming post season even tougher. It’s good to hear he’ll be back relatively soon but it’s a shame he has to sit out even more. He really needs to be playing in order to prepare for the playoffs and with this type of injury, all he can do is skate. I doubt he’ll be back on Thursday because if it were that easy, he would have finished the game last night. Hopefully he’ll only miss one or two games and no more.

The Wings’ eight-game home unbeaten streak and seven-game unbeaten streak overall ended last night with their 4-1 loss to Calgary. They were down the whole game and fell to 1-13-5-1 when playing from behind after two this season. It was only their sixth loss at the Joe this season for a team with the best home-ice record by a fair amount (28-6-4-0). Their last loss at home came on February 14 when they lost to Colorado. Manny Legace made the start for the Wings after all.

First Period – Incomplete Luck
The Wings didn’t come out as flat as they sometimes do and had many good chances over the course of the first period, most of which were involving Henrik Zetterberg, it seemed. However, those chances appeared to come more from a sort of incomplete luck that allowed them to get the chance in the first place but not to finish it. They were repeatedly stonewalled by Miikka Kiprusoff and got nothing the whole period in terms of offense.

The Flames scored off a fluke play that was a result of a collision between Henrik Zetterberg and Kirk Maltby which left the whole left wing open for Stephan Yelle to crash the net. Jordan Leopold took the puck down the right side and sent it out front, where it bounced off Yelle’s skate past a helpless Manny Legace. The play was quickly reviewed and found to be legal, though Manny wasn’t too happy about it. The goal was scored at 6:49 and was the extent of the Flames’ offensive output for the first period.

The Wings continued getting their chances but, as I said, got nothing. They outshot the Flames 10-1. That goal, by the way, did not count as a shot.

Second Period – Incomplete Effort
The Wings came out in the second totally flat and the weak attempts they did make were smothered by the Flames defense or the steady play of Kiprusoff.

The Flames scored their second goal at 2:54 off a strange play. Steve Montador sent a lob in from the far corner of the zone through a couple crowds toward the net where it hit Manny’s shoulder, the crossbar and the post before going in. Manny barely saw it and it shocked everyone in the arena.

They scored again 25 seconds later when they broke in on a 2-on-2. Steve Yzerman took Chuck Kobasew into the boards as Jiri Fischer watched stupidly from in front of the net. Kobasew centered the puck to an uncovered Matthew Lombardi who stuffed it past the, again, helpless Manny. Poor defense by Fischer, in my opinion. He’s been playing well recently but it seems like he’s responsible for those types of plays all frequently.

The Wings finally got on the board at 15:50 when Maltby scored on what seemed to be a harmless play. After some good hustling by his linemates (McCarty and Williams) and himself, he walked off the far side boards and shot the puck through McCarty’s screen between an unseeing Kiprusoff and the shortside post.

It was encouraging but the Flames dashed all our hopes (or most of them anyway) about three and a half minutes later when Craig Conroy scored at 19:16. Derian Hatcher lost his stick at center ice and this sprung Ville Nieminen and Conroy on a 2-on-1 with Chris Chelios defending. Cheli did his usual thing of playing the shooter, even though standard practice is to let the goalie handle the shooter and for the defenseman to take the trailer. Anyway, the Nieminen sent the puck across to Conroy who stuffed it past the, once again, helpless Manny Legace. Fun times for Wings fans.

Third Period – Incomplete Comeback
The third period started in an exciting fashion with Henrik Zetterberg getting one of his many glorious chances but unfortunately he was unable to find the handle on the almost-breakaway play. The Wings as a team looked noticeably better in the third but still couldn’t collectively find the handle as well. They had a some scattered chances but the play was mostly limited to much ineffectual and boring skating back and forth at center ice.

The really bad news of the of the night came when Derian Hatcher left with what is being said was a shoulder injury. He did not return to the ice and will apparently have tests done tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury. If it’s any thing other than a minor deal, I’m going to be really upset. This injury thing got old months ago. Now it’s just plain ridiculous.

Overall
It just wasn’t the Wings night, that’s for sure. The Flames wanted it more and the Wings were incapable of doing anything about it. Nothing went their way all night and they didn’t seem to go out of their way to ensure that things would. They put forth a poor effort for the second game in a row but didn’t come away with a win this time around like they did on Sunday.

Shoot it, Hank!
Henrik Zetterberg needs to shoot the puck a whole heck of a lot more often. He is hanging on to it too long and has missed out on finishing many scoring chances because he’s looking to make a pass. He had numerous chances tonight but rarely shot and it’s getting to be a problem. He has to shoot more often because the Wings need him to start scoring again. This Datsyuk-esque, pass-at-all-costs attitude gets old after a while, especially when it’s not working all that well.

The Return: Part III?
Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond said Pavel Datsyuk is very close to returning. He skated hard yesterday and wanted to play last night but wasn’t allowed to. He may return by the end of the week, apparently. That is truly great news.

All fired up
Jason Williams has played with a lot of jump since returning to the ice a week ago. I’ve heard it suggested that the fact that he wasn’t traded at the deadline may have had an effect on his play and I think there’s a good point to that. He looks like he’s finally coming into his own.

Stonewall
Miikka Kiprusoff is a very technically sound goalie, that’s for sure. He stopped everything he saw tonight and while he wasn’t spectacular, he made everything look easy. He rarely lets himself get out of position and that is one of the marks of a good goaltender. He’s got a bright future if he can keep this up.

Big Picture
The Wings are leading the League with 96 points, just one more than Tampa Bay, two more than Philadelphia and three more than Colorado. They travel to Phoenix to face the Coyotes on Thursday next.

Lines
Shanahan-Mowers-Holmstrom
Maltby-Zetterberg-McCarty
Maltby-Mowers-McCarty
Devereaux-Williams-Thomas
Whitney-Yzerman-Hull
Shanahan-Zetterberg-Hull
Whitney-Yzerman-Holmstrom
Maltby-Mowers-Holmstrom
Devereaux-Mowers-McCarty
Maltby-Williams-McCarty
Whitney-Yzerman-Thomas

Hatcher-Chelios
Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Rivers
Hatcher-Rivers
Hatcher-Schneider
Hatcher-Fischer
Lidstrom-Fischer
Fischer-Chelios

4 on 4
Yzerman-Hull
Whitney-Williams
Shanahan-Zetterberg
Zetterberg-Maltby
Shanahan-Williams
Whitney-Hull

Hatcher-Chelios
Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios
Hatcher-Fischer

PP
Shanahan-Yzerman-Holmstrom
Thomas-Zetterberg-Hull

Lidstrom-Schneider

PK
Zetterberg-Maltby
Whitney-Yzerman

Lidstrom-Chelios
Hatcher-Schneider

Net
Manny Legace

Overview
Tonight is the fourth and final games between these two teams this season. The Wings have won all three previous contest this year with scores of 3-0 and 2-1 in Calgary and 2-1 in Detroit.

The Wings are coming off a not-so exciting 3-2 OT win over Nashville on Sunday and will be looking to stretch their eight-game home unbeaten streak to nine games tonight. It is last game of a three-game home stretch for the Wings who will go on a 5-game, 8-day trip out West next. They are 7-0-1 after losing 4-2 in Vancouver on February 24 and are first place in the Conference with a three-point lead over Colorado. The Wings finally got a win after trailing after two on their 19th try on Sunday with that win over the Preds (1-12-5-1).

The Flames are trying to make the playoffs for the first time since the 95-96 season and are sixth in the Conference, just three points ahead of Nashville and LA but two behind Dallas. During their current five-game unbeaten streak, they have gone 3-0-2 and scored 19 goals. They are coming off a shutout win over the Blues on Sunday, a game they own 3-0.

The Wings need to keep winning if they want to win the Conference and tonight would be a bad game to lose. The Flames will play hard and the Wings will have to respond in kind or they’ll get run over.

Starting Goalies
I expect Curtis Joseph to start for the Wings because the Wings need him to get into a flow and benching him would disrupt anything he might have going since Sunday’s game. Although, if they start Manny, I wouldn’t be all that surprised since they may go with the hotter goalie for this type of game.

Roman Turek started for the Flames on Sunday and had 25 saves for his first win since being put on waivers but I expect Miikka Kiprusoff to get the start tonight.

Injury Report
No injured Wings are slated to return tonight.

Jason Woolley will be out 4-6 weeks with some kind of back injury, the Wings announced over the weekend. Just in time for the later rounds of the playoffs.