On the Wings

Tonight is the only game between these two Original Six rivals this season. The Wings won the most recent meeting, 4-3 on January 14th, 2006 in Detroit.

Thus far in 2007, the Rangers are 6-6-0, dropping to 11th place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind 8th place Carolina. They have won just three of their last nine games following a four-game win streak that began December 30th against the Capitals. That win ended a 7-game skid in December that really hurt their place in the standings. Their month of February will not be an easy one, with three games against New Jersey and a game each against two of their main rivals for playoff spots, Tampa Bay and Carolina.

Henrik Lundqvist should be in net tonight.

In January and February combined, the Wings have posted a 9-5-1 record, which isn’t as good, perhaps, as the management would like, but not bad considering how busy the team’s schedule has been. They are finally in a stretch where they aren’t playing every other night, though they do have a couple hectic weeks coming up. They have 2-3 day breaks on the weekends, however, and that will help them as they try to catch close the five-point gap between them and the Central Division-leading Predators. Their schedule in February isn’t nearly as tough as last month’s was, with games against Chicago, Philadelphia, and Phoenix instead of road trips to San Jose, Anaheim, and Colorado.

Dominik Hasek should be in net tonight.

There should be no changes to the roster tonight, unless Babcock decides to put Andreas Lilja in at the expense of one of the other defensemen. The only Wing with a short-term injury is Mikael Samuelsson and he is still 5+ days away from returning (broken right foot).

Well, this is a game I’ve been waiting for since the schedule was announced, as it’s the first time the Wings will face Brendan Shanahan in the Red and White. Sure, there have been games against former fan favorites before (i.e. Darren McCarty, Sergei Fedorov), but this time is a little different. Given Shanahan’s role while in Detroit, there will definitely be a certain emotional aspect to this night that others didn’t have, but in the end, it’s a hockey game and, to the guys on the ice, that means business. The Wings need to keep winning and tonight’s not a night to get distracted, as the Rangers are still a dangerous team, despite their recent troubles.

By the way, the game is on Versus, not FSN, which sucks for those of us hoping for decent coverage of the occasion.