On the Wings

Update (3:55 PM): It looks like Josh Langfeld never made it back to Grand Rapids after being sent down on Tuesday. After the flu hit the roster, the Wings must have canceled the transfer (it’s no longer listed under the 9th), because they kept Langfeld around until sending him down for real today, as Ansar Khan reports. Apparently, they don’t need him any more because Kris Draper is over the flu and able to play tonight. - Matt

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting 9-2 on October 11, 2006 in Detroit. Mathieu Schneider had a hat trick and Dominik Hasek got the win. The teams will finish up the season series in February, trading home games on the 7th and 17th.

The Coyotes are suddenly one of the hottest teams in the league, having won seven straight and eight of their last nine. Five of those wins came on the road as they travelled to Washington, Carolina, Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas. Now, they’re home for the first time this month, with a three-game homestand in front of them. The last time they were home, they rolled over the San Jose Sharks, 8-0.

Their recent run of success has head coach Wayne Gretzky saying “playoffs” but they’ll have to keep this up for a while if they want that to be a reality. It does look, though, like this isn’t an aberration, as they’ve been able to keep it up for a while now and against some very good teams.

One reason for their turnaround has been goaltending. They acquired goalie Mikael Tellqvist on November 28 and since they have been able to rotate starting duties between the Swede and Curtis Joseph, with positive results. Having two effective goalies has made the skaters more confident, as the Arizona Republic points out. Tellqvist has started the last two games for Phoenix, leading me to believe Joseph will be in net tonight on rotation.

The Wings have had a long January road trip of their own, but it has gone almost entirely opposite of the Coyotes’. They dropped the first three games to San Jose (9-4), LA (4-2), and Anaheim (4-2), before finally getting a win Tuesday night in Colorado (4-3 SO). It was one of their better wins this season, despite the fact that they needed a shootout to get it due to somewhat iffy goaltending and a couple bad breaks. They will close out the trip tonight.

Dominik Hasek will be in net, despite a so-so (in my opinion) game on Tuesday. Babcock must want the extra umph Dom can bring to the table against the Coyotes, since they’ve been so hot lately.

Apparently, the Wings will soon make good on their word and stop over-playing Hasek, as Chris Osgood will reportedly get more starts for the rest of January. That’s good to hear, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Osgood is slated to be in net Saturday against Chicago, so that’s a start.

The only player with a short-term injury at the moment is Mathieu Schnedier (knee sprain). He’s out tonight, but expected back Saturday, according to Helene St. James.

It looks like Kris Draper has the flu, and though he’s listed as “probable” by the Freep, I wouldn’t be shocked if he sat out.

The Wings need to pick up where they left off Tuesday night and come out flying again. The Eurotwins have to be as effective as they were against the Avs and the other lines will need to bring their own brands of pressure. Should be a good game, if the Wings are warming up themselves and Tuesday night wasn’t an anomaly.