On the Wings

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 3-0 on December 1st, with Dominik Hasek getting credit for the shutout, and Dan Cleary, Nick Lidstrom, and Mikael Samuelsson scoring the goals. Tonight’s game is the first of three games against the Wild over the next six days. I suppose playing the Wild three times in a row beats doing the same with Chicago, like they did last year.

Since the 1st, the Wild have gone 4-3-1, with wins coming over Chicago (two), Calgary, and Vancouver. Their most recent game, the win over the Canucks, halted a three-game skid, during which they lost to the Flames, Oilers, and Canucks - all on the road. The Wild have one of the worst road records in the league at 4-11-1, having lost their last seven games away from their home rink.

The Minnesota Star-Tribune implies that this is due, in part at least, to the Wild being in the tough Northwest Division, in which each team has a winning record at home but a losing record on the road. There may be something to that argument but the Wild have lost in Ottawa, Columbus, Montreal, Phoenix, San Jose, Anaheim, and Colorado as well as in their divisional opponents’ rinks. So, they have a penchant for losing on the road wherever they are.

Marian Gaborik (groin) is listed as questionable for tonight’s game.

The Wings have gone 5-3-0 since beating the Wild on the 1st and are coming off a commanding 5-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday. Unlike the Wild, the Wings have no major disparity between their home and road records, which are 10-3-3 and 10-6-1 respectively.

The Free Press reports that Dominik Hasek will start tonight and Chris Osgood will start tomorrow night in Minnesota.

The Wings need to come out of this ridiculous little home-away-home series with at least winning record, if not three wins, and tonight is a good time to get started. The Wild have been working on improving their road record, but it’s still their big weakness and it should be exploited. A fast start by the offense and tight defense will deflate the Wild’s attempts at getting back on track away from home.