by true Citizens of Hockeytown
For those of us who didn’t catch Drew and Mike this morning on the WRIF. Chris Chelios called in and gave an update on Jiri Fischer when asked:
- He’s doing well, doctors have cleared him to resume minimum workouts
- Still don’t know the root of the problem and they’re still contemplating whether or not surgery is the answer
- Fischer has been coming around the team a lot lately and he’ll be on hand for the Grand Opening party at Cheli’s Chili near CoPa tonight.
(via LGW Forums)
Update (13. Mar 06, 10:52 PM): In anticipation for a high demand for a replay of Pavel Datsyuk’s great goal on Nikolai Khabibulin in Chicago last night, I have found a video of it online and posted it. You can check it out here. (.mpg file) While you’re at it, take another look at the replay of Pavel’s famous goal against Dallas’ Marty Turco on November 12th, 2003 here (.mpg) and this clip of his top ten goals from the 03-04 season here (.wmv). - Matt
Tonight, the Wings were away at Chicago to face the Blackhawks for the second consecutive night. The Hawks home advantage at the United Center did not seem to help their cutting edge at all. The Wings arrived at this match holding 5 regular season victories against the Hawks, including the win just last night. So, it was not surprise that the Wings managed to pull through with another victory. At this game, the Red Wings welcomed Corey Cross as a new defenseman, replacing Jamie Rivers. Cross quickly took command of his position, and put the Wings in the lead within the first thirty seconds of his ice time. The Wings certainly couldn’t have asked for a better performance in his first game. Corey Cross definitely seems to be a valuable addition to the Detroit Red Wings.
Whenever the Wings and Hawks take the ice, they are relentless competitors and play the game right through to the end. However the Hawks, being one of the most penalized team in the NHL, need to be careful to keep their defensive aggression in control. For example, Martin Lapointe made several unnecessary hits in the later part of the game, which led to a couple potentially costly penalties. Another was made by Michal Barinka, as well. If it weren’t for the Hawks strong penalty killing, which is ranked 9th in the NHL, they would have easily taken more shots from the Wings. In total, there were 33 shots made by the Wings, and only 23 made by the Hawks.
1st period
The Hawks had a great opportunity to get ahead early in the 1st period. In the Wings territory, Milan Bartovic set the puck up to Mikael Holmqvist, who tipped it toward the net. However, Osgood saw the shot coming and made the save. At 1:40 into the period, Corey Cross took the ice for the first time as a Wings defenseman. Nine seconds later, at 1:49, Williams set the puck up to Lang, and knocked it to Cross, who tipped it past Khabibulin and into the goal. During the 1st period intermission, Cross comments: “I jumped into the right spot at the right time, and I was able to put it in.”
The Wings strong defense maintained strength, and directed the puck back into the Hawk zone. Datsyuk got the puck and made a clean pass to Shanahan. The back pass was perfectly positioned from behind the net, so Shanahan was able to knock the shot into the goal from the left side. This marks Shanahan’s 2nd goal this season.
These first two Wings goals caused the Hawks to lose their momentum a bit, by the middle of the 1st period. Although they attemped to bring the puck into the Wings zone, poor puck handling, and wide shots accounted for several of their offensive blunders. Eventually, the Wings gained back control of the puck and forced it into the Hawk territory. At 6:57, Datsyuk stormed into the Hawk end, on a breakaway, and fired the puck past Khabibulin, for a goal. Wings now hold a three point lead against the Hawks. Khabibulin had enough and was pulled from the Hawks goal, to be replaced by Craig Anderson. Perhaps Blackhawks coach, Trent Yawney, was cringing at the thought Khabibulin’s expensive $6.75 million/per year contract right about now.
The Hawks finally got the puck into the Wings zone. At about 8:45, Matthew Barnaby got a fair shot on Osgood, but was blocked. During this play, Lilja was caught with a holding penalty and was sent to the box for two minutes. However, the Hawks did nothing with their power play advantage. The Wings continued to pressure Anderson with several set up maneuvers. Chelios and Mowers made a valiant attempt to get a piece of Anderson, however it was captured. The puck was soon sent back to the Wings territory. The Hawks hovered around the net pressuring Osgood, with set-up shots. Lilja tripped Mark Bell up between the legs, however no penalty was called. When knocking the puck back into play, Osgood played the puck from the back and accidentally got it into the stick of Milan Bartovic. He tipped the puck to Holmqvist, who knocked the puck past Osgood’s left side, and into the goal, at 15:00 into the period. The Wings woke up and put more pressure in the Hawk zone. The Hawks defense continued to clear to puck, despite several set ups by Williams and Lang. The period finally came to an end in the Wings territory.
2nd period
The second period began with Hawk possession. At thirty seconds into the period, Barnaby made a slap-shot on Osgood, who covered on an amazing save and froze the play. The Wings brought the puck back around to the Hawk zone, as Yzerman got control of the puck from the faceoff. Draper slid the puck to Datsyuk, who cranked out a hard slap-shot on Anderson. Cross later brought the puck to the left end and tipped it, on a failed shot attempt.
At 2:11, Lilja was penalized for tripping Kyle Calder, and is sent to the box. The Hawks used this power play advantage to make some fair shots on Osgood. In particular, Dustin Byfuglien made a decent slap shot towards Calder, positioned in front of the goal. Calder almost had a chance to tip the puck into the net, but Osgood’s glove got it first. At 5:26, Keith got the puck to Sharp, who made a backhand goal, his 10th goal of the season.
When the going gets tough, Martin Lapointe goes checking and slashing. There simply is no other way he can therapeutically take out his aggression on his former Wings than giving out dirty hits. At around 5:50, Lapointe shoved Cross into the boards from behind, however no penalty was given. Twelve seconds later, he was finally caught on a slashing penalty, when he gave Zetterberg a good whack with his stick. This put the Wings into power play position at 6:02.
The Wings, however, failed to take command of this power play. Cullen won the face-off for the Hawks and sent it to Keath, who made a powerful slap shot on Osgood. The Hawks play their defense well in their zone, as the Wings set up their offense. Shanahan and Lidstrom made fair shots on Anderson, but both were knocked wide of the net. At 8:57, Brandon Bochenski was caught with a holding penalty on Zetterberg. This gave the Wings another hopeful power play opportunity. The Wings offense stormed into the Hawk zone and placed constant pressure on Anderson. During this time, Yzerman, and Schneider particularly made some major shots on goal.
At 14:42, Curtis Brown received a hooking call. In the following Wings power play, the Hawks managed to keep the Wings from pressuring their goal too much, by simply clearing it. Four minutes later, Kris Draper was also called on a hooking penalty for hooking Keith. The second period came to a close, with one minute left in the Hawks power play to carry over into the third.
3rd period
The third period started off a bit slow, with both teams building up momentum against each other. At 3:36, Michal Barinka was caught with a cross checking penalty for checking Maltby against the boards from behind. This maneuver by Barkinka was completely uncalled-for and unnecessary, since the play was within the Hawks own territory. This sent the Wings into another power play. Four seconds later, at 3:40, Datsyuk gave an amazing tip to Zetterberg, who blasted the puck past Anderson, for a goal. At this point, the score read 4-2, with the Wings in the lead.
With the power play terminated, the Hawks brought the puck back into the Wing zone. Bochenski took a shot on Osgood, which ended up going wide of the net. The puck was soon given away to Draper, who skated it to the other end of the ice. A set up was made as Mowers passed the puck to Lidstrom, who slapped it towards the net. The puck was then tipped by Cleary, but saved by Anderson.
The Hawks cleared the puck into the Wings territory, however, Draper regained control of the puck and weaved past the Hawk’s defense. Datsyuk shot the puck in front of the net, but it was deflected by Anderson once again.
At 10:36, Cullen won a face off against Draper, and made a goal from a slap shot opportunity before the net. The Hawks tried to pressure the Wings zone more, but they eventually gave the puck away the Wings. Zetterberg grabbed the puck and skated behind the back door of the Hawks net. He then tipped it to Schneider, who got it past Anderson for a goal. This marks Schneider’s 20th goal of the season.
The Hawks gave the Wings one last burst of momentum, even though all hope was lost. Patrick Sharp took the puck and made a snapshot maneuver on Osgood. It appeared as if Cross knocked into Sharp after his shot on goal. This incident sparked a small fight between Sharp and Cross. Both were sent to the penalty box on roughing penalties. This made the player ratio 4 on 4. Neither team accomplished anything during this time.
At 17:42, Kronwall was caught with a tripping penalty, for tripping up Rene Bourque. With the one-man advantage, the Hawks tried to pressure Osgood one last time. Lapointe and Bell both made shots on goal, however they ended up going wide of the net. The game ended in the Wings zone.
The Wings did what was expected tonight, winning another game over Chicago, but they won’t be happy with their lackadaisical third period performance that nearly resulted in a Blackhawk comeback. The Hawks now carry a lot more momentum into tomorrow night’s game than they should, though the Wings ought to be upset enough that it shouldn’t matter.
The game began with the Hawks on top. They scored a strange goal just over a minute in and for a little while it seemed like it would be their night. At 1:08, Matthew Barnaby knocked the puck into the net after Martin Lapointe’s shot went off the endboards and bounced back out front. It was a sudden goal on a harmless looking play and Manny didn’t have much of a chance to stop it.
The Wings were getting some chances but were unable to connect to finish on them. Pavel Datsyuk had a particularly nice shift around 5:00, undressing Khabibulin and the Chicago defense but sending the puck just wide as he ran out of real estate. Just after that, Franzen and Cleary went on a break but Cleary’s shot was wide.
Fortunately, a break about 30 seconds later had a different result. Brendan Shanahan took a pass from Kris Draper and let loose a shot from the blueline off the rush. Khabibulin made the save but kicked the rebound right to Datsyuk in the slot, handing Pavel an easy one-timer goal at 6:25.
Less than two minutes later, Williams took the puck up ice on a break and got a shot off, which was stopped. His linemates joined him, though, and pressure continued, leading directly to the team’s second goal seconds later. Lang’s shot from Khabibulin’s right was stopped but the rebound came right back to him. Instead of shooting it again, he sent a nice, slow pass to the slot, where Steve Yzerman one-timed it into the mostly empty net to give the Wings the lead at 8:08. Nice play by Lang and a great goal by The Captain.
The Wings continued to get good chances but the Hawks scored next almost four minutes later. Again, it was a weird goal and came suddenly on another harmless looking play. Milan Bartovic took the puck behind the net and sent it back out front to Mikael Holmqvist, who knocked it in from the side of the net to tie the game up again. It was a bad angle stopped and probably should have been stopped by Legace. Can’t say I was too happy about that one.
Kris Draper and Nicklas Lidstrom got a 2-on-1 rush a minute later and it nearly resulted in a goal but Nick couldn’t knock it in at the post despite his long reach. Not long after that, Zetterberg took the puck through center and into the Chicago zone with a nice individual effort but lost the puck in the high slot. Mark Mowers picked it up, however, and let loose a shot that beat Khabibulin cleanly from not too far out. Not a great goal for the Russian to give up. The Wings took the lead at 13:28.
After that, the refs decided this Original Six rivalry game had gone long enough without having a penalty and they called Woolley for interference. Not long after that, the Hawks were called for interference as well and the teams went to four a side. Niklas Kronwall was called for high sticking 14 seconds later and the Hawks got a 4-on-3 power play. They ended up getting more going on the subsequent 4-on-4 period but a great lunging defensive play by Zetterberg disrupted their best chance down low.
Robert Lang and Henrik Zetterberg each had big chances after individual efforts towards the end of the period but neither could convert, though Hank’s shot rang off the post. The final minute of the period looked like a Detroit power play as the Wings really put the screws to Chicago but they couldn’t get the puck in the net.
The second period opened with fairly even play. The Wings didn’t take long to extend their lead, however. At 5:28, Rene Bourque was called for tripping and at 5:33, Henrik Zetterberg scored his 32nd to put his team ahead by two. Hank won the faceoff and headed to the net as Lidstrom passed the puck across to Williams, who let loose a shot/pass to the opposite side of the net. Zetterberg tipped the puck off the post and into the net to score one of the easiest looking power play goals I’ve seen.
As the teams headed to the halfway mark of the game, the Wings were dominant again, making it seem like they were once again on the power play.
Pavel Datsyuk took the puck on a rush at 10:25 or so and made a great pass through Shanahan and the Chicago defense to a streaking Draper for the Wings’ fifth goal. Khabibulin was pulled after that one and was replaced by Craig Anderson.
Mark Mowers, playing again for Mikael Samuelsson, had a breakaway at 14:32 and nearly scored a highlight reel goal but he just couldn’t get the backhand shot high enough to finish it.
At 18:26, the Hawks got two penalties one for hooking and another for complaining about it, giving the Wings a full-length 5-on-3 power play. The Wings had a few chances on their first try but it was cleared and they regrouped. The Hawks got another penalty but it wasn’t going to start until the other two expired or the Wings scored and negated one of them. The latter is what happened, as Steve Yzerman scored a goal that can only be described as inevitable. The Wings’ power play was unstoppable here . They had Anderson going every which way until he finally took himself way out of position on Shanahan’s shot from the corner. The puck bounced off him right to Yzerman who shot it over the prone goalie, who was helpless to do anything but watch it go in. I actually felt bad for the guy. Yzerman’s second goal of the night put him three goals away from tying Mario Lemieux (690) for 8th all-time in goals scored.
Yzerman’s goal ended one Chicago penalty but started the latest, giving the Wings a 26 second 5-on-3 to begin the third period. The Hawks killed off the 26 seconds but had to deal with a 5-on-4 power play after that. Yzerman nearly got his third goal on a flurry around the net but it somehow stayed out and Wings fans were denied seeing The Captain score a hat trick.
The Wings didn’t look so hot in the third, but they were fortunate to have penalty-prone opponents. Otherwise, this game might have had a different end. As it was, it looked like the Hawks could tie it up as they scored twice in about a minute after the midway point of the period.
Patrick Sharp scored a nice goal after taking the puck down the right wing, cutting across the net and sending a backhand shot past Legace at 13:37 to make it 6-3.
At 14:40, the Hawks scored a shorthanded goal when Barnaby sent a nice pass to Curtis Brown, who tipped the puck into the net while Schneider tried desperately to disrupt the play.
After that, the Wings woke up a bit and the pace of the game quickened. The Hawks pulled Anderson with 1:05 left and the Wings got a high sticking penalty with 38 seconds left, seeming very much like they’d rather Chicago win the game. Fortunately, Manny still wanted the win and he made the necessary saves to preserve the score. Yzerman was out there for the final shift but he wasn’t able to get the puck down the ice into the net for the hat trick.
The Wings outshot Chicago 46-29 to surpass their season high in shots (by one)
They will face the Hawks again tomorrow night, in Chicago, at 7:00 ET.
IwoCPO has a nice wrap-up of various takes on the NHL’s trading day.
Link
Tonight is the fifth of eight games (bleh!) between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings lead the season series 4-0, with three of those wins coming during the three-game mini-series from October 27th to November 1st (5-2, 4-2, 4-1). The other win came on December 23rd, a 3-2 overtime decision. The teams will face off again tomorrow, in Chicago, at 7:00 ET.
Since the Olympic Break, the Wings have played only Pacific Division opponents and have gone 3-2 in the five games since returning to the States. They are coming off a home win over the Kings, a game with the misleading score of 7-3. It was a much more closely contested game than the score indicates but a goal explosion in the third period gave the Wings the victory.
The Wings will be joined in practice today by newly acquired defenseman Cory Cross. Cross will not be in the lineup tonight, however, but should be tomorrow night in Chicago, the Freep reports. To make room for Cross, the Wings sent rookie defenseman Brett Lebda down to Grand Rapids, where he will get playing time instead of sitting in a suite at JLA.
Manny Legace should get the start tonight, though I’d expect Babcock to go with Chris Osgood tomorrow night. Manny is playing well but I’d still like to see a couple one- or no-goal games by him before the playoffs. He won’t very often get away with allowing three goals in the postseason.
The Hawks are 2-3 since the Break, having played an assortment of Central, Northwestern, and Pacific Division teams. In their first game back, they shut out Nashville 3-0 but they lost their next two games, 5-4 (SO) to Vancouver and 7-2 to Dallas. They won a Central Division lightweight battle on the 7th, beating Columbus 3-1 but fell 2-1 to Colorado on Thursday.
Chicago was a dealer once again this deadline. They traded center Tyler Arnasson to Ottawa for winger Brandon Bochenski after dealing center Jim Dowd to Colorado for a fourth-rounder. Dowd joined the Avs that day and played in their game against the Hawks, registering an assist against his former team.
They have used three different goalies in their last three games but will probably stick with Nikolai Khabibulin, who returned from a knee injury to play Thursday against the Avs after missing over a month of games.
Tonight will be a reminder of just how stupid the NHL’s new scheduling system is. I think we’ve seen the Hawks enough already, don’t you?
Both papers relate a funny anecdote involving Dan Cleary yesterday. Here’s the Freep’s version:
SCARY MOMENT: Forward Dan Cleary was summoned to coach Mike Babcock’s office hours before the NHL’s 3 p.m. trade deadline. Uh-oh.”Dan Cleary came in and his face was sheet white,” Babcock said. “And then I apologized to him. Just ’cause I had no idea. I’m not thinking about that. I’m not the GM. I’m just trying to win tonight.”
Cleary said Babcock wanted to talk about the penalty kill.
“You’re like, ‘Oh God! What’s going on,’ ” Cleary said of his thoughts as he entered Babcock’s office. “He looks at me, he’s like ‘No! Nothing like that.’ …
“Obviously, today is a day where everyone in the league knows your life can turn any minute. Things can go from good to bad or from bad to really bad.”
Poor guy.
Well, Dan knows now that he is a valued cog in the Red Machine and that he’s with the team until the end, whatever that may be.
The Wings completed their season sweep of LA last night, winning 7-3 in a game that I thought was much closer than the score indicated.
My Dad and I sat up high behind Manny Legace for two periods and got a pretty good view of everything. Except during the “migration times” at the beginning and end of each period as everyone tries to beat the lines by leaving early, thereby creating the very lines they are trying to beat, all the while obstructing the view of fans who are just trying to watch the game!!! Anyway.
The Wings came out with energy but I felt they were pretty sloppy early on. Their first power play was particularly bad, with passes blown at the blue line and winding up at the other end of the rink. The Kings looked a bit more crisp, I thought. My Dad made the comment after the first was over that the puck spent entirely too much time in our end, around Legace.
The highlight of the first for me was the LA 5-on-3 power play. Chris Chelios was amazing. He kept the puck pinned in the corner by fighting for it and then blocked a shot before taking possession and clearing it, all by himself. Needless to say, the crowd at the Joe loudly voiced their appreciation as the puck headed down the ice.
Between the first and second, they had two U12 girls teams on the ice for a mock shootout. Usually, there are much younger kids doing the intermission show and their shootouts are funny to watch because kids don’t have many moves at 7 or 8. These girls were different. They were much smoother with the puck and I remember being impressed with the dekes of a couple of them.
The second opened with a bang. Lang’s goal at 1:29 was impressive and got everyone excited. The Kings responded a little over a minute later and the atmosphere deflated a little, though.
I think it’s safe to say everyone in the Joe saw a goal coming when Pavel Datsyuk attempted a cross-crease pass while on the power play at 6:48. Unfortunately, I can’t remember who was waiting for a sure goal on the other end because Pavel’s pass deflected off an LA skate and snuck into the net just inside the post.
It was a fluky goal for Pavel, who seemed to be a step away from scoring a highlight reel goal all night. He threw a couple moves that had the Joe gasping but wasn’t able to finish, much to everyone’s disappointment. I remember yelling “How did he do that?!” once when he spun out of a crowd of Kings with the puck on his stick in a manner that seemed completely superhuman. He’s dangerous right now and I expect a big game from him sometime soon.
Anyway, the Kings evened things up again within two minutes after Datsyuk’s goal.
Henrik Zetterberg put the Wings ahead at 13:04 with an unassisted power play goal, his 30th of the year and the Joe was rocking again. That was nothing compared to the excitement he generated 52 seconds later, when he sent a backhand shot from the slot into the net, much like Datsyuk did a few years ago. The crowd went wild as we scrutinized the big screen to see how the heck he had done it. Thankfully, the good people at the Joe showed the replay plenty of times and we were able to visually verify Hank’s brilliance many times. We were really hoping for a hat trick and I know Zetterberg was as well. He was calling for the puck on his remaining shifts but wasn’t able to convert again, despite a few chances.
The Kings put themselves within one at 9:52 of the third period but the Wings laughed at the pitiful comeback attempt and put up three more goals, putting victory out of LA’s reach. When Budd Lynch announced that Steve Yzerman had assisted on Jason Williams’ goal, the crowd went particularly wild, as a salute to The Captain.
The Kings, in a vain attempt at overcoming a two-goal deficit late in the game, pulled their goalie with a minute and a half remaining. Tomas Holmstrom missed his first attempt at the empty net, sending the puck off the endboards, but he didn’t fail the second time, making it 6-3 at 18:55.
The game was over then but the refs decided to hand the Wings a 5-on-3 power play with 27 seconds left and the Wings couldn’t turn down such a good opportunity to score, could they? Nick Lidstrom made it 7-3 with 7 seconds left, much to the disgust of the Kings fan sitting a few rows in front of us.
Now a word on Robert Lang. He obviously had a good night offensively, with a goal and an assist. He was involved in a few good offensive chances as well and even had a noticeable hit. Still, I didn’t come away from the game impressed by him. Maybe it was less frequent, but I still saw him slacking off some shifts and it’s hard for me to warm to the guy when he won’t stretch out to get the puck on a less-than-perfect pass or move his legs when he has the puck or just plain crash the net more often than not. Sure, he was better and if he plays like that more often, the Wings won’t have trouble winning but he could be even more dominant. The Wings have already dealt with one hot/cold player, they don’t need another. We need you hot, Robert. If not during the regular season, then in the playoffs. Please?
Well, I’ve been to four games this season and they’ve won all four. Notice a trend? I do. Now, if the Wings would just give me tickets to sixteen playoff games….
For a fourth rounder in 2007, according to TSN’s trade tracker. Definitely not going to be involved in the offense. Big though (6′5″, 225lbs) and making just $874,000. That’s about all I know about the guy.
Update (3:35 ET): James has more:
The Detroit Red Wings acquires Cory Cross
I’m not sure how much of an upgrade Cross is over Jamie Rivers. He obviously offers a much bigger presence and a different element, but both are, obviously, depth players on a team like the Red Wings. That said, Detroit has played so well this season and gotten such great contributions from players like Andreas Lilja and Niklas Kronwall on the backend that they don’t really need any parts for an extended playoff run. You can’t lead the Western Conference this season and not be a Stanley Cup contending team. (So much for the dire predictions made at the start of the season for the Red Wings.)
The Wings need size but they haven’t had a lot of luck with big defensemen in the past (Hatcher, Ulfie, Maxim, etc., with the exception of Jiri Fischer) so I’m not so sure about this one. At least he has some experience. Rivers was valuble for his versatility (sort of a poor man’s Dandenault) but the Wings must not see any need for a forward/defenseman at the moment.
Cross has to be praising the hockey gods (offering up incense, sacrificing his new pair of hockey skates or whatever those guys do) he’s no longer in the lower ring of hockey hell and has moved to a legitimate and serious contender for the Cup. “Aww,” you say. “He won’t be able to play with Syd the Kid any more!” No, he’ll just get to play with Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Nicklas Lidstrom Mathieu Schneider, Chris Chelios….. you get the point. I think he can find a way to be happy, despite no longer being on the same roster as hockey’s Annointed One.
He was only there for six games, anyway, having only recently arrived there from Edmonton. I hope he didn’t buy a house in Pennsylvania….
Also, Kukla reports Cross’ll be a depth player (obviously) and that he’ll join the team Saturday.
(above via. A2y)
The Detroit papers are all over this one, as of 3:30 ET. Not. Don’t bother checking until tomorrow morning .
Update (3:55 ET): For those of us who are questioning this move, IwoCPO has a few words worth reading.
When I saw Witt had gone to Nashville, my first thought was that Kenny’s move to clear up roster space had backfired and that he’d traded away Rivers only to end up empty-handed. Maybe Cross was picked up in order to make up for that. I don’t know. This won’t go down as one of Holland’s best but it doesn’t negate great decisions he’s made in the past.
The team certainly had less leverage in trade negotiations than they have had in the past, due to the cap, so maybe it shouldn’t be such a surprise that they came up so empty handed.
Frees up an extra roster spot (or $450,000, which is what Rivers makes). Mirtle thinks they could be going for Brendan Witt. We’ll find out soon enough.
Update (3:04 PM): Well, if they were going for him, they didn’t get him. Witt was traded to Nashville for a first rounder and forward Kris Beech.
Tonight is the final game between Detroit and LA this season. The Wings won the first three games: 5-2 on October 13th and November 28th, and 5-4 (OT) on November 9th.
The Wings are coming off a two-game series with the Coyotes that began with a commanding 7-3 win in Phoenix on Saturday. They were unable to maintain that momentum, however, and lost to a determined Phoenix team 5-2 on Tuesday, continuing their trend of having rough nights after returning from a West Coast trip.
It’s trade season (until 3:00 PM ET today) but the Wings have stayed uncharacteristically quiet. They have said they would like to add a depth defenseman and perhaps another forward but it’s clear that they are hampered by their payroll’s proximity to the cap level. It doesn’t appear likely that they will be able to make a move and I don’t know that they really need to.
Manny Legace will be in net tonight and will hopefully start to inspire a little more confidence. His last couple outings have been passable if not spectacular. Get in playoff shape, Manny!
The Kings have won their last five, including two overtime victories. Now, that may seem impressive but one of those games was against Chicago, one was against Columbus and two were against Minnesota. All of them were one-goal victories. Their 6-5 win over Dallas February 12th, their last game before the Break, is a little different, I admit, but they haven’t been beating the cream of the crop. This win-streak follows a 7-game losing streak (two OT/SO losses) from the end of January to the middle of February.
They are trying to catch Dallas for first place in the Pacific division but they’re 10 points back and I think it’s unlikely they will. As of now they are 6th in the Conference but they could easily be anywhere from 5th to 8th come playoff time.
The Kings made a fairly big trade yesterday, acquiring forward Mark Parrish and defenseman Brent Sopel from the Islanders for defenseman Denis Grebeshkov, forward Jeff Tambellini and a conditional third-round draft pick, which they lose if they make the playoffs.
Parrish will have an immediate impact on the team’s offense, particularly the power play. He has 24 goals this year, 13 of which came with the man-advantage. With the Wings’ penalty kill having surrendered nine power play goals in four games, Parrish may have a field day tonight.
Sopel, on the other hand, will miss at least a week with a “knee contusion,” according to the LA Times.
Mathieu Garon should be in net for the Kings. He’s been their man and I see no reason not to play him.
I will be attending this game with my Dad. It’ll be my fourth game this season and hopefully not my last but we’ll have to see about that.
