Update (6:00 PM): Welcome visitors from HockeyFights.com!

A clarification: below I suggested that the Wings would be playing short a forward, but didn’t make it clear that they would be short only if Zetterberg was out. As far as I know, Aaron Downey will be in the lineup tonight along with Matt Ellis due to the injuries to Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen. So, yes, there is the possibility of a fight in the game tonight, with both Drake and Downey dressing for the Wings. - Matt

Update (4:05 PM): Helene St. James reports that both Nick Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg will play tonight. Great news for the Wings as they get ready to face an amped-up Sharks team. - Matt

Tonight is the first of four games between these two Western Conference Semifinalists. The Sharks won the season series last year, 3-1, but the Wings got the last laugh by beating them in six games in the second round of the playoffs. The teams will face each other next Friday and will finish the season series with games in January and February.

The Sharks lost their opener to Edmonton, 3-2 in a shootout. They rebounded the next night, however, with a 3-1 win over Vancouver. They ran into Paul Stastny and the Colorado Avalanche on October 7, losing 6-2 on Stastny’s 5-point night. They came back with a win over Chicago three nights later, 2-1. The visiting Bruins defeated them on the 13th, 2-1, but the Sharks won their most recent game, a 4-2 decision over Vancouver on the road. On Saturday, they’ll face the Predators before taking off on a four-game road trip in which Detroit will be their second stop.

Joe Thornton, predictably, is the team’s point leader with 7. He is also listed as the leader in goals, but he and Milan Michalek both have 3. Jonathan Cheechoo has been held to one goal and one assist through six games.

Evgeni Nabokov has a GAA of 2.40 and a save-percentage of .896 through six games. The Colorado game skewed what would have been pretty good numbers, though. He should be in net tonight.

The Wings are in the middle of a four-game road West Coast road trip. They won the first game, 4-1, but lost the next night to Anaheim, 6-3. After tonight, the team will fly to Phoenix to play the Coyotes on Saturday before heading home to face the Canucks on Wednesday.

Henrik Zetterberg, the team leader in points, may be out tonight with a hip flexor problem. He and Nick Lidstrom (ribs) did not practice yesterday. Nick may also sit. As I wrote last night, look for Mikael Samuelsson to return from his groin injury or for the Wings to play short a forward. Derek Meech may be inserted into the lineup to help fill in for Lidstrom.

Chris Osgood will be in net tonight for the Wings.

San Jose will be looking for revenge tonight, so the Wings will need to get their act together if they want to come out on top. Taking 13 penalties is not an option. The Sharks still believes it defeated itself in the second round and this would be a great time to hand them a reminder that they lost because the Wings were better. It’ll be tough if Lidstrom and Zetterberg are both out, but they should be able to do it as long as they stay out of the box.