On the Wings

Tonight is the first eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings won the 2005-2006 series 7-1, with four wins coming in 2005: October 22nd (6-0), October 24th (6-2), December 20th (4-3 SO), and December 31st (5-2); and three wins coming in 2006: January 18th (4-0), April 7th (6-5), and April 8th (4-2). Their only loss to the Jackets came on March 25th, 2006 (5-4 SO), a result of a Wings meltdown in the third period.

The Blue Jackets are coming off a 5-4 shootout win over Calgary last night, thus halting a two-game slide that included losses to Colorado and New Jersey. David Vborny looks to be the player to stop on the team: he has 13 points in 11 games, including two goals in last night’s game. Nikolai Zherdev has five in six, and former Red Wing Sergei Fedorov scored a goal and notched an assist last night. Sergei has just two goals and one assist so far this season, but has only played five games since returning from a pre-season shoulder injury on October 23rd.

The Wings are looking to extend their win-streak to six games tonight. They are coming off a third period-comeback win over the Hawks in Chicago on Friday, the night after they beat Calgary 3-2 at home.

The News today focuses on Henrik Zetterberg, who cracked a nine-game goalless streak Friday night, while the Freep looks at the Wings’ defense, which Helene St. James says is turning out to be one of the best in the league, something I saw coming when the team signed Danny Markov. It’s not just the defensemen, however, as the whole team has been putting in strong efforts defensively. This is definitely a different Detroit Red Wings team.

Valtteri Filppula has been called up from the AHL once again, after a busy night in Grand Rapids. I guess Brad Norton will have to wait at least another game before coming back.

The papers report that Mathieu Schneider and Andreas Lilja should play tonight, so the team will be at full strength.

Tonight’s a good opportunity for the Wings to fine-tune their game before they hit a patch of schedule with games against better opponents such as Edmonton and Nashville. Hopefully they’ll be able to get the power play back on track (maybe by trying someone other than Jason Williams on the point). I may or may not be able to watch the game, so there might not be a game report for this one. Sorry.