On the Wings

Update (3:20 PM): Helene St. James has more from Bertuzzi. - Matt

Update (2:45 PM): Ansar Khan, citing Mike Babcock as the source, says Bertuzzi will first play with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom. So, it looks like TSN was right. Khan does say, however, that there’s a good chance Bertuzzi will end up with Robert Lang and Kyle Calder.

Also, Dan Cleary (sprained knee) will return tonight.

Lastly, Henrik Zetterberg skated for the “second straight day.” I totally missed the fact that he skated yesterday, but Khan mentioned it in his daily report this morning, the only Wings sports writer to do so. I only read the two Detroit papers before I went to work today, but I wish I’d read Khan instead. Kudos for including the update that fans care most about, Ansar. Not sure how the other writers missed that little tidbit.

Anyway, he says Zetterberg could return as soon as the end of next week. That’s definitely good news. - Matt

Update (12:20 PM): TSN reports that Bertuzzi will play with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom. I’m not quite sure I believe that, given the fact that he was brought here to jumpstart the second line, not the first. Plus, Valtteri Filppula is doing very well with those two. Still, it’s possible the team wants him to be jumpstarted quickly and putting him with Datsyuk is a good way to do that. We’ll find out tonight whether or not TSN is right. - Matt

Correction (11:50 AM): The Wings can only take the Division and Conference lead with a win tonight if the Predators lose their game in Calgary in either regulation or extra time. They’d take the lead outright with a win if Nashville loses in regulation, making their point totals 101 to 100. If the Preds lose in overtime or a shootout, thus earning their 101st point, the Wings would win the points percentage tie-breaker (again, if they beat Columbus) and still move up to first, because they’ll retain their game-in-hand. - Matt

Update (11:20 AM): Helene St. James reports that Todd Bertuzzi will play tonight. The decision was made after the morning skate. - Matt

Tonight is the sixth of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings lead the series 3-2, with wins November 4 (4-1), December 20 (5-0), and December 28 (7-4). The Blue Jackets beat the Wings on December 18, 4-3, and January 19th, 3-1. The teams will wrap things up with two games in April.

Columbus is 5-4-0 in March thus far. Their losses have come in pairs, with the first following a three-game win streak to start the month. They dropped a home game to Dallas on the 9th and then lost the next night in Nashville. They rebounded with a win over Anaheim on the 14th, but lost their next two, first San Jose and then in LA a day later, on the 17th. They have once again rebounded with a win, having defeated the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Tuesday in the first of four games against Central Division opponents. After tonight’s game, they will play the Blues in a home-and-home series.

Columbus is 12th in the Conference and well out of the playoff race.

The Jackets’ defense is pretty depleted, with Adam Foote (ankle), Rotislav Kiesla (hip), Bryan Berard (back), and Duvie Westcott (concussion) all out. Because of that, Sergei Fedorov has been filling in on the blueline for Ken Hitchcock, having become more of a team player and therefore more willing to fill in there. When in Detroit, he hated playing defense for Scotty Bowman.

Fredrik Norrena should be in net tonight for the Blue Jackets.

The Wings fell to 5-3-1 in March with their second-straight loss on Tuesday, ending their last Western Canada road trip of the regular season with an 0-2-0 record. They first lost in embarrassing fashion to Vancouver on Saturday and then they dropped an important game to a desperate Calgary team on Tuesday. The latest loss came just a week after the first of two wins over Nashville in a series which put them ahead of the Predators for the Central Division lead. The Predators have took the lead back with their win over Dallas on Saturday. The Wings stand at 4th place in the Conference, one point back of the Preds, who failed to increase their lead last night in Vancouver.

Chris Osgood is slated to start tonight for the Wings.

The Free Press reports that Dan Cleary (knee sprain) is expected to return tonight.

Todd Bertuzzi (back) may also dress for the first time as a Red Wing, pending his performance in the morning skate. The team isn’t expecting a lot out of him in his first game back after so long, but they are definitely of the opinion that the more games he plays, the better. The sports writers will probably have an update on his status this afternoon, following practice.

Chris Chelios is expected to play after getting the last game off. In that case, Andreas Lilja would sit.

Tonight’s an important game for the Wings, who need to get out of this slide and back on track as they head into the final stretch. They haven’t got a lot of games left with which to get hot going into the playoffs, so the sooner they start, the better. The Jackets are a better team than we give them credit for, but there’s no reason why the Wings shouldn’t dominate them tonight. They need to stay out of the box and need to play a much more complete game than has been their habit recently. A win would put them ahead of Nashville again and that should be incentive enough.