On the Wings

Update (2:35 PM): According to Ansar Khan, Dominik Hasek will start tonight. Chris Osgood was scheduled to start tomorrow night in Denver, but he has come down with the flu and it looks like he may not be able to play. The Wings have called up Joey MacDonald to cover for him and if he gets to Columbus in time (coming from Hamilton), it looks he’ll be on the bench backing Hasek up tonight.

If Osgood is not better by tomorrow, Joey will start against the Avs because the Wings are still not going to play Hasek in back-to-back games. If Osgood is better, he’ll play and MacDonald will back him up. However, the Wings may have called MacDonald up just so he can play tomorrow night, not so he can back up Hasek tonight, since he might not even make it to Columbus before the game. (I’m not sure what time today the call-up was made, though Khan posted within the last half-hour and didn’t know it’d happenend at the time).

Why they’re playing Dom against Columbus and not Colorado, I don’t know. It makes very little sense, especially if MacDonald starts in Denver and gets thrown to the wolves. - Matt

Tonight is the fifth of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings lead the series 3-1, with wins November 4 (4-1), December 20 (5-0), and December 28 (7-4). The Blue Jackets beat the Wings on December 18, 4-3. The teams will wrap things up with a game in March and the remaining two in April.

Since losing to the Wings on the 28th, the Jackets have hit another rough patch, posting a 3-5-2 record. The one high point of that stretch was their 4-3 win over Anaheim on the 5th, but their other wins have come against the lowly Blackhawks. Last night, they were shut out by the Predators on the road, 4-0. According to the AP, Columbus is the most shut-out team, with 11.

Although the win over the Ducks must have felt good, there was bad news that night as well: Rick Nash had injured his back. He would miss the next five games, returning only last night in Nashville. The night after the game in Anaheim, they were in San Jose and they lost Sergei Fedorov to an elbow injury that caused him to miss the next three games. He returned for their Jan 16 win over Chicago and scored a goal. Needless to say, the last thing the frequently-shutout Jackets need is for their offensively talented players to have injury trouble.

Based on their goaltender rotation, it looks like Fredrik Norrena will start tonight. He was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 15 shots, losing his fourth straight start.

The Wings are riding a five-game win streak, having beaten Colorado, Phoenix, Chicago, Montreal, and Nashville in that span. Tonight’s game kicks off a stretch of three road games in which they’ll head to Colorado tomorrow before coming home for the All Star Break. Then, they’ll head to St. Louis to play the Blues a week from today.

Since Dominik Hasek started against the Preds, I would think Chris Osgood would get the nod tonight. Anyone know when he’s getting his new helmet? Ken Daniels said something about it in the last game, but I didn’t catch the whole thing.

Mathieu Schneider will remain out with a knee sprain.

The Wings need to take advantage of Columbus’ recent troubles tonight and come away with a win before heading into Denver tomorrow. The Jackets are certainly capable of upsetting teams, but the Wings have been good at shutting down opponents recently and tonight needs to be no different. They need to play a smart, conservative game in order to save something for the Avs.