Update (2:15 PM): For whatever reason, I have a little bit of a sense of foreboding for the game tonight. Seeing that Miikka Kiprusoff made 39 saves against Nashville Tuesday night doesn’t help. - Matt
Update (10:00 AM): Dave at Gorilla Crouch points out that Johan Franzen saw time on the second line Tuesday night and suggests that he’ll see more minutes there tonight against a physical Calgary team.
It’d certainly make sense from a size standpoint, as Johan is a much bigger guy than little Jiri Hudler. Jiri doesn’t seem to have a lot of trouble playing against physical teams, but putting Franzen in his spot would at least give Valtteri Filppula some more space. - Matt
Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 4-2 on Oct 10 in Detroit. They’ll meet once more this month before wrapping the series up in February.
Since losing to the Wings, Calgary has posted a 6-1-2 record. Their only losses during that stretch came to Colorado (5-4, shootout; 3-2, shootout) and San Jose (4-1, regulation). Their wins came against Dallas, Nashville (2x), LA, Edmonton, and Minnesota. The won their most recent game, which was their second against Nashville. Tonight’s game is the end of a 7-game homestand for the Flames.
Jarome Iginla leads the Flames with 19 points, which puts him second behind the Wings’ own Henrik Zetterberg in the NHL scoring race. The Flames captain has 8 goals and 11 assists. The team has three more players with double digit point totals: Daymond Langkow (17), Alex Tanguay (15), and Kristian Huselius (12).
Miika Kiprusoff has posted a pretty pedestrian 2.97 GAA and .891 save-percentage so far this season, but remains a formidable goalie. He’s played in every Flames to this point and there’s no reason to think he won’t play tonight.
The Wings have gone 7-2-0 since beating the Flames on October 10th. The losses came against Chicago and Anaheim. They are currently on a six-game winning streak in which they’ve beaten San Jose (2x), Phoenix, Vancouver (2x), and Edmonton. Tonight is the final stop in a three-game Western Canada road trip, but there’s no decent homestand coming up until later in December.
Henrik Zetterberg leads the team and the league with 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists). Four more Wings have double-digit point totals: Tomas Holmstrom (14), Pavel Datsyuk (14), Brian Rafalski (11), Nick Lidstrom (10).
With Dominik Hasek still out because of a sore hip, Chris Osgood will get his fourth straight start and Jimmy Howard will ride the pine again.
Niklas Kronwall skated yesterday but will not return tonight, which means Derek Meech will get another game. They’re saying Kronwall should be ready for Wednesday’s game against Nashville.
Mike Babcock said yesterday that, due to Calgary’s toughness, Aaron Downey may get to suit up tonight. Not sure who they’d sit, since both Johan Franzen and Dallas Drake are pretty tough. Drake, though, can’t drop the gloves if need be due to his face mask, so he may be the one.
After a rough start, the Flames have turned things around and are looking pretty good. The Wings have had a great run and haven’t looked to be getting too complacent, so hopefully tonight isn’t the night they start. Expect a physical, hard-fought game.
In recent times the Wings have struggled playing in Alberta. They still managed to beat Edmonton though, so let’s hope they can change things in the Saddledome too.