On the Wings

Update (5:55 PM): I forgot to thank Sidney Crosby and Company for beating Nashville last night and making it possible for the Wings to get within a point of  the Preds with a win tonight. - Matt

Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the season series 2-0, with wins October 11th (9-2) and January 11th (5-1). They’ll play each other once more this month, in Phoenix on the 17th.

The last time we saw the Coyotes, they were one of the hottest team in the league, having won 8 of their previous 9 games, including 7 straight, providing their fans with a glimmer of hope for a dismal season. Since losing to the Wings last month, however, they have reverted somewhat to form and have posted a 5-6-0 record. During that 11-game stretch, they have beaten such teams as Nashville and Colorado, but lost to San Jose, Anaheim, and Pittsburgh. So, it’s been win a couple, lose a couple for nearly a month now, though they have two wins in February thus far and just one loss. One of those wins came last night in Columbus, a 3-0 decision.

Following the game tonight, they will head to Florida to play the Panthers on Saturday and the Lightning on Tuesday.

As far as post-season prospects go, the Coyotes are 12 points out of a playoff spot and will need a miracle at this point to make it.

I expect Curtis Joseph to be in net tonight as Wayne Gretzky evidently does not have a policy against starting his #1 goalie in back-to-back games, having started CuJo on Jan. 31st as well as Feb. 1st.

Since beating the Coyotes in January, the Wings are 7-2-1. They’ve won their last four, which included games against the Avalanche (3-1), the Islanders (4-3 OT), the Blues (5-3), and, most recently, the Rangers (4-3). Their last loss came to the Blues in overtime, a 2-1 decision on January 26th.

They have been alternating home and away games since they played Colorado on the 28th and will continue to do so by travelling to St. Louis after tonight’s game to play the Blues tomorrow night before returning home to play Calgary on Sunday. After that, they’ll head out on a three-game road trip to Philadelphia (the 12th), Dallas (the 14th), and Phoenix (the 17th). Philly to Dallas, eh? A nice turnaround.

Although they have the league’s third-best record, The Wings are currently solidly in the 4th seed and will be unless they can catch Nashville for the Division lead. They are just three points back with five games against the Predators remaining.

Dominik Hasek will be in net tonight per the Wings’ policy to only play him on days in which he’s able to go through his full pre-game routine. Since they’ll be leaving for St. Louis tonight after the game and will probably only do a light skate in the morning, it’s not possible for him to do all the things necessary to safeguard his groin before playing the Blues. Joey MacDonald will be in net tomorrow instead since Chris Osgood is still out with a broken finger in his stick/blocker hand.

Mikael Samuelsson is the only Wing with a short-term injury but his recovery time just got extended to another couple weeks so he definitely won’t be back tonight.

The Wings will need to settle down and play a full game tonight, without needing to come back in the third period. I’m sure the Coyotes will be playing hard but Hasek and the defense should be able to contain them and the offense should be able to add to the 14 goals they’ve already scored on Phoenix this season.