Update (7:05 PM): Been a long day. Anyway, the update is that, as expected, Jiri Hudler will sit tonight while Tomas Holmstrom will play. Ansar Khan has more from practice, including possible initial lines at his new site. - Matt
I’ve got three finals today, so this’ll be brief:
Tonight is Game 4 of the Wings’ Western Conference Semifinal series with the San Jose Sharks, who lead it 2-1.
The Sharks have a chance to go up 3-1 in the series tonight with a win. To do this, they’ll need to do these things, among others:
- Convert Red Wing mistakes. They’ve been doing a good job of this all series and they need to continue to do so.
- Clear rebounds in the defensive zone. With the return of Tomas Holmstrom to the Detroit lineup, this becomes even more important.
- Fully utilize depth. Part of the Wings’ problem Monday night may have been fatigue, so rolling four energetic lines may wear them down again.
For the Wings, this is a must-win situation. It’s not an elimination game, of course, but there’s no guarantee they’ll win Saturday at home after they lost the series opener there. To win tonight, they’ll need to,
- Play a full first period. A good start is key and that means more than just the first 10 minutes.
- Play a full second period. They can’t just be satisfied with a good first, they need to continue it.
- Play a full third period. They can’t let up in the third, either.
Sure, the above three are very general and require a lot of other things to be done right (any of which could also be “keys to the game”), but I think it’s very important that they play hard for a full 60 minutes tonight. Unless they get a couple lucky garbage goals and a stolen game by Dominik Hasek, this will have to be their best playoff game thus far, and that includes the now semi-legendary Game 1 against the Flames.