On the Wings

Update (1:57 PM): I wish the Wings’ game preview page looked like this. - Matt

Update (1:45 PM): Red Wings TV has added two pre-game videos, one with comments from Mike Babcock, the other with comments from Mark Hartigan. - Matt

Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the series 2-0, with wins October 8th (4-2) and October 30th (2-1).  The final game will be on February 26 in Edmonton.

The Oilers are 3-2-1 in December thus far, with wins coming in Anahiem, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. Their most recent game, a 5-4 shootout win over the Blues, cut off a three-game skid in which they lost to Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Dallas. The Oilers are at the tail end of a three-stop road trip and will be playing their third game in four nights.

Shawn Horcoff leads the team in in goals (15), assists (18), and points (33). He’s the only Oiler with double-digit goals, but Ales Hemsky has nine. He hasn’t scored since November 30th, however, though he put up three points in St. Louis Tuesday. Horcoff, on the other hand, has 13 points in his last 8 games.

Sheldon Souray returned Tuesday night after missing 25 games because of a shoulder injury and scored a goal. Unfortunately for Edmonton, he was not the only injured Oiler. Via the Edmonton Sun: “Ethan Moreau, LW, foot; Matt Greene, D, foot; Geoff Sanderson, LW, back.” Defenseman Dick Tarnstrom will return, however.

It looks as though Edmonton has something of a goaltender rotation going. Dwayne Roloson started in Dallas, but was pulled after he allowed three goals on six shots. Mathieu Garon, relieving Roloson, fared a bit better, giving up two goals on 24 shots. Garon then started the next night in St. Louis and made 24 saves. It looks, then, like Roloson will be back in net tonight.

For the Oilers perspective, see The Battle of Alberta,  Covered in Oil,  Lowetide,  mc79hockey,  always on the road,  Black Dog Hates Skunks,  Irreverent Oiler Fans,  Nothing 2 See Here,  Oil Country, Ontario,  the real deal hockey, SportsGuru, and  Talkin’ Hockey.

The Wings are 5-0-0 in December thus far and have gone seven games without a loss. They’re coming off a draining 2-1 win over Nashville on Monday, a game which came the night after a hard-fought 5-2 win over Carolina. Tonight is the first of a four-game homestand that will see them playing host to Florida, Washington and LA.

Three Red Wings (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom) have 10 or more goals, but Dan Cleary is just one away with nine. I’d say he’s due to cross that double-digit threshold.

Kris Draper (knee), Kirk Maltby (back), and Tomas Holmstrom (knee) are all out tonight. Matt Ellis, Aaron Downey, and recently-called up Mark Hartigan are filling in.

According to Mike Babcock’s phone conference yesterday, Dominik Hasek is slated to start tonight, while Chris Osgood will start Saturday versus Florida.

For more of the Detroit perspective, see  Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown. Nathan already has a bit of a preview posted at HockeyTownTodd and George Malik has a preview roundup at Snapshots.

The Wings looked drained by the end of the Nashville game, but they’ve had a couple days to rest up, so they’ll hopefully come out with good energy tonight. The Oilers are having a rough season, but they have youth and enthusiasm to go with grit and they’ll make life difficult if the Wings aren’t on top of their game. Hasek has looked solid in his last three starts and will hopefully continue his resurgence with a strong game tonight. With Tomas Holmstrom out of the lineup, the Wings’ power play may not be as effective at generating chances, but players like Mikael Samuelsson and Valtteri Filppula will have an opportunity to get on track offensively.

The Oilers are 8-1 in shootouts, so if the game ends up in one, it may have a disappointing result.