Bruce MacLeod reports that the initial diagnosis on Tomas Kopecky’s injury is that it’s muscular and will require only a short rest. That’s just a preliminary take, however, so it could turn out to be worse than that. In the meantime, Matt Ellis or Aaron Downey will be able to step in.
More on the Wings’ 3-0 win over St. Louis tomorrow.
I thought about it yesterday and meant to mention it earlier, but it slipped my mind: two years ago today, Jiri Fischer collapsed on the Wings’ bench and nearly died because of a racing heart beat. Ansar Khan has a nice update on Jiri, who is now the Wings’ director of player development. Note to Detroit media: it’s always good to hear more about Fischer.
Update (9:49 PM): Tomas Kopecky has left the game due to a shoulder injury. He won’t return, which leaves the Wings short a forward. - Matt
Update (7:36 PM): If you’re trying to watch the game online, try the broadcast on Yahoo! If you’re in the blackout area, try watching it on NHL TV here. - Matt
Update (7:05 PM): As usual, there’ll be a liveblog of sorts going on over at Abel to Yzerman. - Matt
Update (6:22 PM): Red Wings TV has some game day comments from Mike Babcock here. - Matt
Update (6:03 PM): HockeyTownTodd has his preview of the game posted. Also, be sure to check out Baroque’s latest post over there. - Matt
Update (12:56 PM): Bruce MacLeod has the “probable lines” over at Red Wings Corner. Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey are both healthy scratches. - Matt
Tonight is the second of eight games between these two teams this season. The Blues won the first meeting, 4-3 in St. Louis on the 13th. The remaining six games in the series will be played in December (3) and March (3).
The Blues are 3-0-0 since beating the Wings a week ago. They first beat the Blue Jackets, 3-2 on the 16th and followed that up with a 3-2 shootout win in Nashville the next night. Two days later, they beat the Predators at home, 2-1. That win put them at 5-3-0 in November.
Brad Boyes leads the team with 12 goals, but Paul Kariya leads in points with 20. Barrett Jackman has one point through 18 games and is now minus-9.
Former Red Wing Manny Legace should be in net for the Blues tonight. Since the last time we saw him, Manny has improved to a 2.22 GAA (from 2.27) and a .918 save-percentage (from .914).
For the Blues perspective, check out Note Speak, St. Louis Game Time, The Hockey Chick, and The Checking Line.
The Wings have gone 1-2-0 since losing to the Blues last week. On Sunday in Columbus, they snapped a three-game losing streak in which they lost to the Blackhawks twice, once before the Blues game, and once after it. In a stretch of games in which they have exclusively played Central Division teams, the team is 3-3-0. They play in Nashville tomorrow night and will face Columbus on Saturday.
Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in goals, assists, and points with 14, 16, and 30, respectively. Pavel Datsyuk and Nick Lidstrom also have 16 assists.
It looks like Aaron Downey will sit again after a strong performance Sunday night. Expect Dallas Drake and Tomas Kopecky to fill out the fourth line with, it looks like, Jiri Hudler.
Chris Osgood will start tonight.
For more of the Detroit perspective, be sure to stop by Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch (though Dave is traveling), Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, yzerman is god, and Winging It In Motown today.
The Wings just need to come out and play their game. If they run into penalty trouble, hopefully their having focused on that in practice yesterday will help. With a confident Chris Osgood in net, they should be in better shape than they were last time, when Hasek’s shaky play resulted in his getting yanked.
NHL.com’s Karl Samuelson has a nice piece up on the Wings’ Swedish players, mostly from the perspective of Daniel Alfredsson on the outside looking in. (link)
Bruce MacLeod reports that Chris Osgood will start in net tomorrow night versus the Blues. Why? To Mike Babcock (and most other people paying attention), it’s simple: “To me, he’s earned the right.” It’s looking more and more like IwoCPO’s right.
Dominik Hasek will start Thursday in Nashville after getting another day of practice with Jim Bedard, the goaltending coach.
Also, it looks like Aaron Downey will sit out after having a strong game Sunday. In practice today, he and Matt Ellis were the extra men on the fourth and second lines, respectively.
And some good news: the team practiced 5-on-3 defense today. As HockeyTownTodd has been pointing out, there seem to be more of those lately, so they might as well be prepared.
Lastly, I apologize for the dearth in posting over the past few days. School tasks have made it difficult to find time to attend to the blog, but I should be able to return to regular posting now. For a while, anyway.
I’m sorry, but I’m working on a major paper all this weekend and can’t take the time. I hope to have it done in time to watch tomorrow night’s game, but I can’t make any promises. Be sure to stop by Gorilla Crouch and Snapshots for game day stuff.
I will say this, the roster situation is going to be interesting if Chris Osgood is not able to back up Hasek. To call up Jimmy Howard, the team will either need to demote Aaron Downey or put Ozzie on 7-day IR. Neither of those are ideal. Let’s hope he’s no longer sick.
Oh, and be sure to read this piece by a blogaholic named Bruce.
Kind of a non-news item, but Ansar Khan reports that Dominik Hasek will start tomorrow night. He may or may not be backed up by Chris Osgood, who had to skip practice today because of the flu. If Osgood isn’t better, the team will have to call up Jimmy Howard.
Also, it looks like Jiri Hudler is being rewarded for his production of late, as he skated with the second line today while Johan Franzen was relegated to the fourth.
I apologize for not posting yesterday. A slow day new-wise and a school/work responsibilities sort of dictated that.