On the Wings

Update (7:50 PM): You can watch the game live online on NHL TV here. - Matt

Update (5:50 PM): HockeyTownTodd has his preview posted. - Matt

Update (2:20 PM): Over at Snapshots, George Malik has a nice roundup of all the post-game media from the win over the Blues. - Matt

Tonight is the second of eight games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 3-2 in a shootout on the 7th. They’ll meet again in December (1), February (1), and March (4).

Since losing to the Wings on the 7th, the Predators have posted a 3-1-1 record. The three wins came in a row after leaving Detroit and included two games over the Blue Jackets. Since beating the Blackhawks on the 15th, however, the Preds have dropped two in a row. First, they lost 3-2 to the Blues in a shootout on the 17th, and then they lost 2-1 to St. Louis again, in regulation, two nights later. Nashville has been playing Central Division opponents since November 4, but they’ll finish that stretch up tonight.

Radek Bonk leads the team in goals with 8, but David Legwand leads in points and assists with 18 and 12.

It looks as though Chris Mason will be the starter tonight.

For the Nashville perspective, see Pred-Joe, On the Forecheck, and the official Predators blog.

The Wings are 3-3-0 since beating the Predators earlier this month. They dropped three consecutive games, but have since won two in a row, including last night’s game in St. Louis, a 3-0 decision. Chris Osgood was in net and only needed to make 12 saves to post his 44th career shutout. He was great when needed, though, and continues to exude confidence. Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring just 22 seconds into the game with a nice powerplay goal and the Blues never got back in the game. They took two penalties, including a couple double minors, and could never find their rhythm. The Wings, on the other hand, were pretty dominant. Mikael Samuelsson and Dan Cleary scored the Wings’ other goals. Cleary’s was a particularly nice breakaway effort.

See post-game comments from Mike Babcock here, from Chris Osgood and Dan Cleary here, and see the highlight reel here.

Tomas Kopecky left the game with a shoulder injury that they’re saying is minor. Apparently, he wouldn’t have played tonight anyway, as he and Dallas Drake were slated to sit in exchange for Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey.

Dominik Hasek is slated to start tonight.

The Wings will need to try to pick up where they left off last night. The Predators are rested, which will make things difficult, especially given their speed, but if the Wings are smart defensively, they should be in good shape. If the Wings can’t limit the shots like they usually do, it may not be a bad thing, as Hasek apparently prefers to face a lot of shots rather than, say, 12. Given that the Wings will keep their opponents to under 20 shots on most nights, you have to wonder if a goalie that can’t thrive in that system is the best for the team. Chris Osgood has no problem with facing 12 shots. Just sayin’.

Oh, and happy Thanksgiving!