Archive for December, 2006

GameDay: @ New Jersey (17-11-2, 36 Pts) 1:00 ET

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This afternoon, the Wings will face the Devils for the first and only time this season. Detroit won the last meeting between these two teams, 5-2 on December 6th, 2005, in the 1,000th game at Joe Louis Arena. To cap off the win, Steve Yzerman scored a highlight reel goal in the third period on backup goalie Scott Clemmensen after Dan Cleary sprung him into the Devils zone all alone.

The Devils remain competitive this season, sitting just four points behind the Rangers for the lead in the Atlantic Division. After some troubles at the end of November – earning just one point on a four-game Pacific Division road trip – New Jersey kicked off December with five wins in a row.

That streak was halted when they hosted the Sabres on Tuesday and lost 3-2. The loss was a rarity for the team, which has an Eastern Conference-best 11-2-1 home record. They traveled up the Eastern seaboard on Thursday to face the Bruins hoping to get back on the right track, but they were unsuccessful, losing 5-3.

Martin Brodeur did not play Thursday night, but will be in net today, no doubt. He is 7-6-1-0 against the Wings in his career (regular season), with a 2.06 GAA.

The Wings had a three-game winning streak halted by a loss to the Senators on Tuesday. They dominated for much of the game, but handed the Sens three goals on a platter (albeit one was on a power play after a lame penalty) and couldn’t make up for it in the face of Ray Emery’s stellar play in net.

They had the tables turned on them, in a way, on Thursday, when the Hawks fairly dominated them, but couldn’t win because of Dominik Hasek’s own great play. Three great Wings goals later and the Hawks were in the same position the Wings were in against the Sens: trying to come back in a game they would have won without such a strong game by the opposing goalie and without a couple defensive gaffes.

Now, the Wings will head into the Devils’ home turf, a place in which they have not won since 1993, according to the AP. The game seems to be a bit of a schedule oddity, as it is the middle game of a three-stop road trip for the Wings, who had to travel a third of the way across the country to get to New Jersey after playing in Chicago. Following the game today, they will have to turn around and head to Columbus for Monday’s game, to wrap up the trip. Have to love the zig-zagging across half the country.

Dominik Hasek should get the nod today.

The Wings’ injury list now stands at Danny Markov (hand) and Tomas Kopecky (collarbone). The latter’s injury came at the start of the third period of Thursday’s game and required surgery Friday to repair. Kopecky will be out 10-12 weeks, apparently.

Niklas Kronwall is apparently going to return today after missing far too many six games with a groin injury.

The Wings need to watch out for the Devils, who would love to make up for their home loss on Tuesday with a win over their old rivals. They’ll need to play a more controlled defensive game than they did against the Hawks, but demonstrate the same offensive creativity that forced Emery to be so good Tuesday and resulted in three great goals on Thursday. Brodeur is a hard nut to crack but they’ve done it before and need to do it again.

12/15 Notes

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Real quick:

… Dominik Hasek stole one for the Wings last night: 29 saves, many of which were big time stops.

… Pavel Datsyuk’s pass to Henrik Zetterberg for the first goal was amazing. I had just started yelling at Mikael Samuelsson for turning over the puck at center when Pavel stole it right back and beat two defensemen as he made that behind the back pass to a wide open Zetterberg. I forgot all about the turnover.

… Samuelsson’s goal later in the game was a sniper’s goal. Keep that up and you can be our canon, Sammy.

… Tomas Kopecky has a broken collar bone after going into the boards shoulder first on a rush in the third period. I only saw the replay once but it looked bad enough. He’ll be out for 10-12 weeks. Since the Wings can just insert Jiri Hudler into the lineup, they don’t need to call anyone up, though they might anyway, just in case.

… Derek Meech has been sent back to GR since Niklas Kronwall has finally been cleared to play.

GameDay: @ Chicago (12-12-5, 29 Pts) 8:30 ET

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Update (4:17 PM): Looks like Kronwall won’t be in the lineup tonight, though Babs continues to tease us (via the Freep):

“I think he’ll play the next game,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said after the morning skate at United Center in Chicago. “They’re just giving him one more day.”

Let’s hope that’s true cause I’d really like to see him back in the lineup and I don’t think I can handle hearing any more about how he’s so very close to being able to play… -Sarah

Tonight is the second of eight games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting 2-1 on November 2nd, off goals from Robert Lang and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Hawks have gone 8-3-5 since they lost to the Wings and have earned at least a point in every game back to their 2-1 win over the Stars on November 29th. This run of success started when they switched coaches from Trent Yawney to Denis Savard on the 27th. They have won their last two, including a 3-2 win over the Blues in their latest game.

On Sunday, the Hawks signed free agent forward Peter Bondra in a bid to increase their offense. They already have a great goalscorer in Martin Havlat and when Michael Handzus returns, they’ll be a bit of an offensive force to be reckoned with.

The new coach, Savard, was an old teammate of Chris Chelios’ and Cheli had this to say about him in the News today:

“Denis was a gambler as a player, and knowing him, he’s letting the forwards over there take some chances and letting them use their skill. They’re winning games and playing good hockey.”

Honestly, that’s good to hear. I’m no fan of the Hawks, but they’ve been too bad for too long, and I’m willing to accept a change in fortunes for them.

The Wings had a three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with an underwhelming performance at home versus the Ottawa Senators. After a dominating first period, the Wings fell apart and the Sens were able to steal a win.

Tonight’s game kicks off a three-game road trip for the Wings, who will travel to New Jersey (Saturday) and Columbus (Monday) before returning home for another game against the Blue Jackets on the 20th.

Johan Franzen is slated to return to the ice tonight after sitting out nine games with a concussion and knee sprain. It will definitely be good to have him back.

Niklas Kronwall may or may not be back in the lineup tonight, the papers say. I’m guessing not. That means Derek Meech will get another game’s worth of NHL experience.

If Kronwall is healthy, though, Meech may just be sent down because otherwise he’d be a scratch, even with Danny Markov still out. The Wings would have six healthy defensemen and wouldn’t have much reason to keep him in town when he could be playing in Grand Rapids. So, the AHL transaction page could be a good indicator of Kronwall’s condition.

The Wings need to rebound from Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss. The Hawks are hot right now and won’t be pushovers but if the Wings play like they did in the first period of the Sens game, they should be able to overwhelm Chicago. Still, they could just run into another suddenly-hot goalie in Nikolai Khabibulin and fall into the same hole they did against Ottawa.

12/13 Injury Update

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… Ansar Khan reports that Pavel Datsyuk did not practice today due to stiffness. Apparently, it’s nothing big, though it’s not certain whether or not he’ll play tomorrow night in Chicago. Babcock wouldn’t tell what exactly the issue was, so it could be anything.

Hopefully Pavel won’t have to sit tomorrow, as he seems to be hitting his stride and doesn’t need to have that disrupted.

… Khan also reports that Johan Franzen will definitely be back tomorrow night. He says nothing about Niklas Kronwall, however. Nik’s injury problems are beginning to be a bit frustrating, I have to say.

Wings 2, Sens 3

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Update (11:15 AM): Gorilla Crouch has more. - Matt

I have to go take a final (my last one) and then work on a project until I go to work so I have no time to do anything other than refer you to Abel to Yzerman. Regular coverage should return next week when we’re all done with school for a few weeks.

GameDay: vs. Ottawa (15-15-1, 31 Pts) 7:30 ET

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Because of finals, this will be another brief preview:

Tonight is the only game between these teams this season.

The Sens are coming off a 6-2 loss to the surging Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, a game in which they allowed five power play goals. It was the third loss in a row for Ottawa, which dropped games to the Caps and Rangers before heading to Columbus to lose.

Ray Emery, rather than Martin Gerber, will get the start tonight for the Sens. Gerber allowed four goals on 13 shots against the Jackets, while Emery has allowed 10 goals in his last three games, according to the AP.

The Wings won their last game, a 5-1 decision over Toronto in which they scored five power play goals. In contrast to the Sens, they have won their last three, with two wins over the Blues coming before Saturday’s win over the Leafs.

Johan Franzen (knee) and Niklas Kronwall (groin) are both expected to sit out tonight’s game.

The Sens are struggling a bit, but they still have talent so the Wings can’t expect to win just by stepping out onto the ice. Expect Ottawa to step up their play against their old teammate, Dominik Hasek, who’ll have to have a strong mental game tonight, for his part, and not get carried away emotionally.

I don’t think I’ll be able to watch tonight, and even if I do, I probably won’t be doing a full-scale game summary because I won’t have the time.

12/11 Notes

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Update (3:50 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Johan Franzen (knee) and Niklas Kronwall (groin) should be ready to return on Thursday against the Hawks in Chicago. So, Kronwall is behind schedule, based on reports from last week, and Franzen will be returning when expected.

Khan also says Chris Osgood (broken wrist) has had his cast removed and has faced some shots before practice. He’s a week away from returning, however, because of a rash. - Matt

… John Niyo of the Detroit News has a long piece about Dominik Hasek in today’s edition. Niyo recaps Dom’s time here up to this point in the season, pointing out that it’s worked out pretty well so far. The possibility of an injury remains as a concern, but Dom and the Wings are definitely doing all they can to avoid it. Hasek sounds as competive as ever and it’s showing on the ice.

… The next Wings game is tomorrow against the Senators, but there’s still hockey worth watching tonight. Versus is broadcasting the Pens/Caps game, or the Crosby/Ovechkin game, if you will. The NHL is really trying to push this game and get viewers, so if you can, tune in at 7:00 ET. You know you want to see those two play.

Unfortunately, I have two big finals tomorrow and won’t be able to watch, myself.

… Speaking of finals, I need to study some more. So, that’s all for now.