Just thought I’d do a little update since I know that Matt is without internet access for the time being…

Yesterday’s game was a such a disappointment. The Wings showed great promise in the first two periods, only to let it all slip away in the last half of the third. It was tragic really. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s too painful. These close ones just kill me, especially when we seem to have the game all locked up early on.

Not only did we lose the game, but we also lost Niklas Kronwall in the first thirty seconds to a broken pelvic bone (Dave from gorilla crouch has a nice diagram if you want specifics…). He was against the boards behind the net fighting for the puck, and Joel Lundqvist barreled in and gave him one heck of a hip check into the boards. Unfortunately I have to say it was clean – I really wish I could blame him (or anyone for that matter…), it’d give me somewhere to direct the venting of my frustrations.

Mickey Redmond lamented the play for quite some time, saying that generally one of your teammates (like the goaltender…) should warn you when someone is flying toward you like that. Though he did admit the possibility that Kronner had been warned, but may not have had the time necessary to react. Honestly it just seemed like a freak play, another unfortunate break for Kronwall. I love the way he plays, but he has yet to make it through a season with the Wings without a major injury. I just wish he could stay healthy! Oh I forgot to mention… he’s out for 6-8 weeks, or about two months. That means that the only way he’s coming back this season is for the Stanley Cup Finals – maybe. As IwoCPO points out, that means we’ll likely be seeing all too much of everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Andreas Lilja. While I do feel that Lils has seemed better of late, he’s still the weakest link on our defense and can be a liability.

To top it all off, our defensive rock, Nicklas Lidstrom, is out with a lower back strain. Lidstrom doesn’t get injured! What is up with that? They’re saying it’s nothing serious – just precautionary, but given the wings’ tendency to downplay injury severity, I can’t help but be a just a little bit concerned. I really, really, really hope they’re right, because there’s no way we’re going anywhere in the playoffs without Nick Lidstrom.

Anyway, the gaps in our depleted defense will be filled by the returning Brett Lebda and call-up Kyle Quincey. Not sure why Quincey got the call over Derek Meech (who has outplayed him all season in GR – when Quincey has been healthy, that is). I like Quincey, but he seems to have a tendency to take bad penalties. Hopefully he’ll be on his best behavior against the Blue Jackets on Sunday.