On the Wings

Update (4:45 PM): George Sipple reports that Peter Forsberg is doubtful for tonight, which is not a surprise given the Tennessean report earlier today. - Matt

Tonight is the sixth of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season and the first of a back-to-back home-and-home series. The Wings lead the season series 3-2, having won November 10th (3-0), January 17th (5-3), and March 6th (4-3 SO). The Preds won the November 25th (6-2) and February 24th (4-3 OT) meetings. The two teams will travel to Detroit to play tomorrow night and will finish up the season series on March 29th at Joe Louis Arena.

Since losing to the Wings on the 6th, Nashville has won two games, both of which came at home. First, they hosted the Calgary Flames on the 8th and ended up with a 6-3 win. Two nights later, they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1. They lead the Western Conference with 98 points, three points more than the nearest contenders, Anaheim and Detroit. They’ll clinch a playoff spot with three more points or if Colorado doesn’t get any points in a game.

So, they’ve kept up their winning ways, despite the continuing absence of Peter Forsberg (upper body), Steve Sullivan (back spasms), Scott Hartnell (broken foot), Scott Nichol (broken hand). There was a report on Sunday that Forsberg and Sullivan may be ready to return tonight, but the Tennessean now tells Preds fans not to get their hopes up. Forsberg practiced yesterday, but told the paper, “I don’t know for (Tuesday) yet. We’ll see.” Sullivan also skated yesterday, but the paper says he likely won’t be ready.

One thing that does not bode well for the game tonight, given the Wings’ tendency toward especially slow starts lately, is the Predators penchant for first period goals. Nashville leads the league, with 86 of their 236 goals coming in the opening 20 minutes. They’ve allowed only 51. The Wings are 20th with 54 scored in the first.

Team scoring leader Paul Kariya has 7 points in his last five games, including a goal Saturday against the Blue Jackets.

Expect Tomas Vokoun to be in net tonight, with Chris Mason perhaps seeing duty tomorrow night. Apparently, Barry Trotz hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll use both goalies.

The Wings have also played two games since the 6th, but they’ve split them, winning 3-2 in OT over LA on the 9th, but falling 6-3 to Boston on the 11th. They are 4th in the Conference with 95 points, being second in the Division, and have a game in hand on the Preds.

The team’s play over the past few games has been a cause for concern as we go down the stretch, but they’ve still managed to pull out wins after slow starts. Their past two Sunday afternoon games have been disasters, but they were playing against teams trying to keep their playoffs hopes alive.

They have also been missing a number of key players, with three players returning to the ice and two going down with injuries over the past week. Mikael Samuelsson (foot) and Dominik Hasek (thigh) played key roles in the Wings’ overtime win on Friday, but the team lost Johan Franzen (upper body) in the second period, and Danny Markov (upper body) before the game, to aggravated injuries. Tomas Holmstrom returned from an upper body injury of his own on Sunday, but the team effort was so bad that he didn’t have much impact. None of the Wings’ injured players will be returning this week.

Despite their recent troubles, the Wings’ remain the team with the most goals in the third period, having scored 86 of their 216 goals in the final twenty minutes. They’ve allowed only 56. Nashville is 24th with 60 scored in the third. (Since we have the best first and third period teams here, I thought I’d mention the team with the most second period goals: Buffalo, with 103 scored and 72 allowed.)

The team points leader, Pavel Datsyuk, has 8 points in his last 5, including a nice assist on the game winner Friday night.

Chris Osgood is slated to be the starter tonight, with Dominik Hasek getting the nod tomorrow in Detroit.

This is a very important game for the Wings, who need to show up to play or else there will be trouble. They said all the right things after the game Sunday and need to put it into practice tonight against the Predators. They’ve talked about it being more important to go into the postseason playing well than to win the Conference title, and tonight is a good time to start heading toward that goal. It should be an exciting game, as the Predators are making a push from the top down for favorable playoff conditions and home ice is key. They want the Central Division title and will play hard to keep their lead.