On the Wings

The Wings are in Edmonton tonight to face the Oilers for the third time this season. They’ve split the two previous games, with Detroit winning the last meeting, 3-0 on November 8th, but lost the first, 3-1 on October 21st.

The Oilers have one of the best home records in the NHL at 7-2-0, with only New Jersey, Minnesota, and Anaheim winning more in their own building. Since losing to the Wings, Edmonton has gone 3-1-0, beating the Blue Jackets, and the Avalanche, but losing to the Blues, on the road before returning home to beat St. Louis in their last game.

Ryan Smythe has been a scoring machine this season, notching 14 goals, eight of which have come at home.

The Wings failed for the fifth time to surpass the team record in consecutive wins by losing to the Flames 3-1 in Calgary last night, ending the streak at nine. I was unable to watch the game so I can’t comment much on it, but it sounds like they got owned. According to IwoCPO, the weakness of the power play is no longer something we can laugh at as an aberration in an otherwise strong team, because last night the Flames took it to the Wings knowing they wouldn’t have to suffer.

Of course, it was just one game so it’s not the end of the world. The streak had to end sometime. It just sounds like they played badly enough last night for there to be some concern. They certainly won’t get away with it tonight.

The Wings will be without Niklas Kronwall, Jason Williams, Tomas Holmstrom, and Chris Osgood again tonight. Darryl Bootland and Evan McGrath could play tonight and Stefan Liv will be backing up Joey MacDonald.

The Wings need to rebound with a win tonight. It’s that simple.