On the Wings

Update (4:06 PM): Be sure to check out the liveblogging going on over at Kukla-dom during the game tonight, with Paul, Alanah, and IwoCPO all taking part.  Alanah has the pre-game section going now. - Matt

Tonight is the fourth and final game between these two teams this season. The Canucks lead the series 2-1, with wins October 5th in the opener (3-1) and November 22nd (4-3 OT). The Wings won the November 14th meeting 3-2.

The Canucks opened March with a bang, winning their first five games this month. Since then, however, they are 1-1-1, with a regulation loss to the Ducks on the 11th and an overtime loss to the Wild two nights later. They rebounded with a 3-2 OT win over St. Louis on Thursday. The win kept them one point ahead of the Wild, who also won that night, in the race for the Northwest Division title.

The Sedin brothers Daniel (31G, 69Pts) and Henrik (57A, 67 Pts) lead the team in scoring. They combined for four points in the Canucks’ win over the Blues Thursday night, with both notching primary assists on each other’s goals.

Roberto Luongo, who should be in net tonight, is second in the league in wins with 40.

The Wings are 5-1-1 in March thus far, with their only losses coming a week apart on afternoon games: first, 4-3 in OT against Colorado, and then 6-3 to Boston. They’ve followed up both losses with a pair of wins, including a total of three over Nashville in two weeks. The first came on the 6th in Detroit, a 4-3 SO decision. The next two came on back-to-back nights, with the Wings winning 5-2 first in Nashville and then 4-2 in Detroit. That latest win put the Wings a point ahead of the Predators for the Central Division lead as well as the Conference and League leads.

Pavel Datsyuk (55A, 76 Pts) and Henrik Zetterberg (31G, 68 Pts) lead the team in scoring. Datsyuk has scored a point in nine straight games (2G, 15 Pts), and Zetterberg was on a 7-game streak with 16 points over that span, including 9 goals before he took a cross-check to the back in the February 24th Nashville game. He hasn’t played since.

Dominik Hasek will be in net for the Wings tonight.

According to the Free Press, Valtteri Filppula will be in the lineup tonight. Apparently, Danny Markov is also a possibility as he thinks he’s ready, but Babcock is “unsure.” Neither Johan Franzen (upper body) or Dan Cleary (knee) will return until at least Tuesday.

The Wings had a great week, beating the Predators twice like they did, and now they need to continue it. The Canucks are in the playoffs, not on the edge like the Bruins or Avalanche were, so they won’t necessarily play with that desperate edge. Still, they’re in a battle for the Division title and could still fall far enough to be the 8th seed rather than the 3rd seed, so they’ll have motivation. The Wings haven’t been to Western Canada since November, when a three-game road trip was kicked off with a win over Vancouver, so hopefully they’ll earn a similar result tonight.