On the Wings

Update (4:40 PM): Correction on the Dallas starter for tonight: Mike Smith will be in net, according to the Dallas Morning News (I should have seen that earlier - sorry for the lazy assumption). Apparently, Mike Tippett isn’t impressed with Turco’s play recently, not to mention his record against the Wings. (via Left Wing Lock). - Matt

Update (3:25 PM): Ansar Khan, via email: “Osgood starts tonight, with MacDonald as the backup, Hasek will start in Phoenix. Dan Cleary is out with the flu and Danny Markov is back in, giving them seven defensemen.” - Matt

Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the series 2-0, with wins October 27th (4-3) and November 27th (2-1). The fourth and final game will come next month, on the 30th.

The Stars are 4-1-0 thus far in February, with their only loss coming to the Blues on the third. They’ve won their last three, including a 1-0 win over Anaheim on Saturday. Their most recent win came on Sunday against Colorado, a 7-5 decision.

Dallas is currently sixth in the Conference, but is looking to climb the ladder all the way to 2nd place as they are only 4 points behind Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead. They’re only a point behind San Jose and will be watching the scoreboard for the results of the Preds/Sharks game tonight. They play host to the Sharks on Sunday.

Marty Turco should be in net tonight for the Stars. He has struggled a bit since the All Star Break, according to the AP, who say he was pulled Sunday after allowing three goals in the second period. Turco is 1-8-5-0 against the Wings in his career.

The Wings are 4-2-0 in February, but those losses have come in their last three games. They are coming off a 6-1 embarrassment in Philadelphia that came the day after a dominating 7-4 win over Calgary.

They are currently fourth in the Conference, but can vault ahead to first with a win tonight if Nashville loses to San Jose.

The Detroit News reports that Dominik Hasek will be “available” for tonight’s game, while the Free Press says that “in all likelihood, Osgood will get the nod.” We’ll know more after the morning skate, though it sounds like the papers may have an opportunity to use Osgood’s headline suggestion tomorrow: “Sexy tandem back in the saddle in Dallas.” In any case, it looks like at least one of them will be back, as the team has sent Jimmy Howard back to Grand Rapids.

Looks like Danny Markov is “probable” for tonight.

It’s not just the two goalies that need to get “back in the saddle” tonight. The team as a whole needs to rebound from Monday night’s debacle with at least a solid game tonight, if not a win. The Stars are fighting to climb the standings so it won’t be an easy one, but Detroit ought to have a lot of motivation considering the fact that Nashville very well could go up three points tonight, if they win and the Wings do not. Hopefully, this year’s father/son trip will be more successful than last year’s (1-1-1).