Archive for December, 2007

Wings 4, Wild 1

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The Wings once again put the Wild in their place with their second dominant performance against the boys from “Farber’s Hockeytown.”  The Wild stayed roughly competitive for a little over a period and a half, but the Wings pulled away in the final five minutes of the second and never really looked back. It was a return to the “A” game.

A few thoughts on the game:

… Dominik Hasek got the start for the Wings and made 18 saves. He  didn’t have to make many big stops, but he was there when required and improved to 9-0-2 in his career against the Wild. He looked a little out of position on the lone Minnesota goal, but it was deflected in off Chris Chelios so it may not have made any difference. With the Wings dominating the puck, Dom was mostly along for the ride, anyway.

… At the other end of the ice was Niklas Backstrom and I think he deserves a good chunk of credit for stopping 47 shots, many of which required monster saves. He robbed a couple Wings, including Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula, though the Wings scored a split second later on that latter chance. Backstrom is the only reason this game wasn’t a rout on the scoreboard as well as just about everywhere else.

… As I wrote above, the Wings’ first goal came just after a glorious Filppula chance was denied by Backstrom. Fil had the whole right side of the net to shoot at, but Backstrom managed to knock it down with his glove and stick as he dove across. He didn’t control the puck, however, and Pavel Datsyuk immediately followed up by knocking it into the net. You can’t fault Backstrom for that one, as the puck squirted out to Filppula after coming at the net from the left point and Datsyuk was left unmolested in front of the net.

… It doesn’t appear in the play-by-play, but early in the second period, while on the power play, Brett Lebda put the puck in the net at the tail end of a flurry that included the bowling over of Johan Franzen by a Wild defender into Backstrom. Backstrom ended up essentially on his back with the puck between his legs. The down low official stepped up, into the crease, to see if it was still live. It ended up getting picked up by Lebda, whose shot glanced off the officials calf on it’s way in. That ref signaled it was a goal, but the play went immediately to review because of the ref at center ice.

At first, the consensus was that something was being called on Franzen for having fallen into Backstrom. However, that theory was soon ruled out as it was noticed that the puck had gone in off the ref. The goal was waived off because of Rule 85.4:

If a goal is scored as a result of being deflected directly into the net off an official, the goal shall not be allowed.

Okay. I can accept that. I just want to know what the heck the ref was doing in the crease. That was a major brain cramp on the part of that official (I’m not sure if it was Chris Lee or Dennis LaRue).

… At 15:14, Johan Franzen made it 2-0 with a nice individual effort. Jiri Hudler intercepted a Wild outlet pass sent it to Mikael Samuelsson, who dropped it Franzen along the left wing boards. Johan carried the puck around behind the net and back out front on the right side. For whatever reason, Backstrom didn’t hold the post and Franzen roofed it on what should have been a fairly routine save. The goal pretty much came out of the blue.

There has been some debate in the media about the value of second assists and I have to say that Hudler’s was deserved on this one. Had he not made the play on the Minnesota pass, Franzen never would have had a chance to make Backstrom look foolish.

… The Wings scored again 45 seconds later. This time, it was Dan Cleary, who benefited from a beautiful long pass by Nick Lidstrom and broke in on Backstrom all alone. He put a quick blocker-side wrister into the net  with Brent Burns trailing to make it 3-0 Wings.

Brett Lebda got the second assist and this time I think it was a bit of a crock, since the puck did nothing more than glance off his skate when the Wild shot it into the Detroit end. Lidstrom’s great pass was all the assistance Cleary required. Nick’s awareness that Minnesota was going through a line change, which was well-outlined by the FSN crew, and the accuracy of the pass made it all happen.

… At 18:27, Valtteri Filppula was called for holding. I don’t recall ever seeing a holding penalty called when neither of a player’s hands ever left his stick, so this was new to me. Fil was trying to split a pair of defenders and used his right arm in a battle for the puck, the possession of which he had only just lost. I believe it was the official behind the play that made the call, which may explain it. It looked like an innocent battle for the puck from the front, but perhaps from the back it looked like that most heinous of all hockey penalties, the offensive-zone hold.

What made the penalty even more unfortunate was the fact that the Wild scored on the subsequent power play. The really unfortunate part of that sequence of play was that a Red Wing clearing attempt was masterfully blocked by the linesman. The puck stayed in the zone and it wasn’t much later that the Wild got within two. The puck went in off a diving Chelios and left a somewhat out-of-position Hasek with little chance at stopping it.

… Given that they scored at 19:51 of the second period, you would have thought the Wild would have had a boost going into the third.  Whatever they had hoped to do, however, was thwarted by  one of the Wings more impressive defensive performance of the season. Minnesota managed just two shots in the first eight minutes of the period and five total in the third. They had managed just seven in each of the first two periods. The Wings put up 16, 17, and 18 for a total of 51, dominating offensively while maintaining a high defensive standard.

… Tomas Kopecky rounded out the scoring at 9:59 with a gritty goal right on the doorstep. He seems to be getting better every night.

… In the absence of Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary really stepped up their play as they saw time with Pavel Datsyuk. Fil has been on the verge of breaking out all season and it appears we are finally witnessing his transition from a somewhat bumbling second-year  player to a mature two-way dominant force. Cleary is showing once again that he can both grind it out on the third line and skate with the stars.

… Another strong win for the Wings, who enter the Christmas Break on a high note despite uncertainty about two of their stars. The Wings obviously want Hank and Holmstrom back as soon as possible, but they showed last night that they can still win if other guys step it up. The Wings demonstrated their depth last night and showed why they have to be considered the best team in the NHL at this time.

That’s especially encouraging given the chance that Zetterberg’s back could keep him out of some games in the future. Personally, I’d like to think about that contingency as little as possible, but you know the Wings have considered it. If the trade deadline were tomorrow and the playoffs started the day after that, I wouldn’t change a thing about the team as it stands now, but with the news that Hank’s back isn’t always fine, trade (or free agent) possibilities  are on the table. Over at Abel to Yzerman, IwoCPO looks at some options.

There is, of course, always the chance that Hank’s back could turn out to be nothing to worry about and he may return to the lineup right after the Break, seemingly none the worse for wear. We can only hope.

… Other than the Links, I have just one more thing to point out. After the game, Kris Draper was asked where he was going. His answer?

“I’m going back to Hockeytown.”

Thanks to Erik for posting that in the GameDay post comments.

Links

GameDay: @ Minnesota (20-12-2, 42 Pts) 8:00 ET

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Update (4:30 PM): As much improvement as we’ve seen with the Wings’ online presence, it’s obvious that they still have quite a way to go. Witness the Wild’s official preview of the game tonight and compare it to the Wings’ AP wire preview. Notice a difference? Which would did you find more informative? As impressed as I was with the Oilers’ official preview last week, I think Minnesota’s is even better.

Why the Wings rely strictly on the AP content for their previews when they could have someone like the Wild’s “Web Content” writer, Glen Andresen, doing something other than cookie-cutter crap is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the AP reports, but I go to NHL.com for them. I’d like to be able to go to the Wings’ official site and get more.

They can’t even use the argument that they don’t need to make a greater effort at putting a more personal face on GameDay because they are in such a good hockey market. Minnesota and Edmonton are both great hockey markets and their previews beat the Wings’ by a country mile. - Matt

Update (2:53 PM): I forgot to mention that Dominik Hasek is the starter for Detroit, at least according to the Bruce MacLeod post linked to below. - Matt

Update (2:47 PM): Bad news: Bruce MacLeod reports that Henrik Zetterberg is the previously-unnamed injured Red Wing and will not be in the lineup tonight due to back spasms. Hank told the media,

“I’m not too worried. There’s been a lot of games played. I feel a little bad today. Hopefully, I get three days off, I’ll feel a little better after Christmas. Of course I want to play tonight, but if you think, be a little smart, you get a few days off and hopefully it won’t get worse. … Today was the first time it was bad enough to not go out there. We decided not to play. It’s been pretty good lately. Overall for the year, it’s been good and bad days, but overall it’s been good.”

Hank’s made a strong case for being the Wings’ MVP this season, so this is obviously a big loss. Hopefully it’s just for tonight.

Mark Hartigan has been called up to fill in the 12th forward spot. Valtteri Filppula will move up to the top line with Pavel Datsyuk and Dan Cleary to start the game. It looks like Johan Franzen will take Fil’s place on the second line.

Good news: The MRI on Tomas Holmstrom’s knee showed that there is no tear, though there is a bone bruise. According to Ansar Khan, Mike Babcock’s thinking is that it’s not a long-term injury. Still, they don’t know when he’ll be able to return to the lineup, as Babcock told Helene St. James:

“It’s not a big deal. Now, does that big deal mean one game, two games, three? I don’t know, but big-picture wise, it’s fantastic.”

You can expect a dip in the Wings’ power play production over the next game or two, especially if Hank can’t make it back immediately.  - Matt

Update (1:21 PM): Our favorite Detroit-bashing Minneapolis-St. Paul hockey writer, Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune, has “a hunch” that Petteri Nummelin will return to the lineup tonight in favor of Matt Foy.

He also says it’s likely Josh Harding will start instead of Niklas Backstrom. Harding was in net when the Wings beat the Wild on the 7th. - Matt

Update (1:15 PM): The Pioneer Press’ Brian Murphy has a piece about the Minneapolis-St. Paul-as-Hockeytown flap that is more sober than most coming out of the State of Hockey. I love this quote from John Hahn, the Wings’ Senior Director of Communications:

“Hockeytown isn’t just the city of Detroit. It’s a feeling, an atmosphere, an attitude about hockey and passion about the Red Wings that is present everywhere we go.”

That’s exactly what I’ve been saying.

This quote by St. Paul mayor Chris Coleman could very well have been said by Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:

“When you take the success of the franchise, and all the other hockey stuff that’s going on here, this clearly is ‘Hockeytown.’”

Given that the Wings’ success far outweighs the Wild’s and that the Metro Detroit area has as much, if not more, of “all that other hockey stuff” happening, why not concede the point? Detroit is Hockeytown. Minnesota is The State of Hockey. It’s pretty simple. - Matt

Update (12:40 PM): IwoCPO suggests that the unnamed injured Red Wing is Mikael Samuelsson. That’s as good a guess as any. My guess? I wouldn’t be too surprised if it were Pavel Datsyuk. It’d be hard to believe he came out of that game without some kind of injury after all the special attention he received. - Matt

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 5-0 on December 7th on the back of Dominik Hasek’s shutout and Henrik Zetterberg’s hat trick. The remaining two games will be played January 10th and February 5th.

The Wild are 5-1-0 since losing to the Wings on the 7th, with their only loss during that stretch coming on the 11th in San Jose. Since that loss, they have won four straight, including games against Anaheim, LA, Nashville, and New York (Rangers). The win over New York on Thursday was remarkable in that Marian Gaborik became the first player in nearly 11 years to score five goals in a game. Tonight is the last of a three-game homestand for the Wild.

Gaborik leads the Wild in goals and overall points with 18 and 33. He and Brian Rolston are the only Minnesota players who have scored 10 or more goals this season.

It looks like Minnesota will be without Todd Fedoruk (shoulder), Petteri Nummelin (head), Derek Boogaard (back), and Mikko Koivu (fibula).

Josh Harding has started the last four games for the Wild, but may sit tonight in favor of Niklas Backstrom.

For the Wild perspective, see The State of Hockey News, Wild Puck Banter, Casual Hockey, Puck Wild, In the State of Hockey, and Land of Lakes and Hockey. Theresa Ferries of The State of Hockey News has her preview posted already.

The Wings are 5-1-1 since their win over the Wild earlier this month. They are coming off their first regulation loss since Thanksgiving, a 3-2 decision in St. Louis on Thursday. The game came the night after a 6-2 win over LA and was the first of a five-game road trip.

Valtteri Filppula has scored five goals in his last seven, including two on penalty shots and Henrik Zetterberg has scored seven in his last nine. Mikael Samuelsson, who had been the coldest of the Wings’ offensive forwards, broke a 13-game goalless streak with one Thursday night.

The Wings will be without Kirk Maltby (back) and Tomas Holmstrom (knee). It is also possible that they may be without another forward, as the media was told an unnamed player came out of St. Louis banged up. If that player is unable to go, Mark Hartigan should get the call-up. In any case, Aaron Downey will return to the lineup after sitting out the last two. Chris Chelios also will return to the lineup after having Thursday night off. Derek Meech will sit as a result.

If the Wings stick to their rotation policy, Dominik Hasek should be the starter tonight.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see  Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, and Winging It In Motown.

The Wild will be looking to exact revenge for the embarrassment they suffered in their last meeting with the Wings. They’ll be looking to protect their 7-0 record on Saturdays and to attempt to justify being named the new “Hockeytown USA” as though one win over the team from the real Hockeytown means the title gets transferred.

So, you can expect that they’ll be playing what Jacque Lemaire erroneously calls “hockey” to the best of their ability. We can only hope the Wings can beat through the wall of bodies and make things more entertaining than watching um, well, -  than watching a team trap. I would love to see the Wild put in their place, as they were on the 7th.

12/21 Holmstrom Update

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Bruce MacLeod reports that Tomas Holmstrom has returned to Detroit in order to undergo a MRI tomorrow. Although Homer’s right knee had swollen and was causing him pain, Ken Holland told the media, “We don’t think it’s significant.” That’s the spin they’re putting on it now, but they won’t really know one way or the other until later in the day tomorrow.

The Free Press’ George Sipple, by the way, has a better quote from Holland:

“After the game we didn’t think it was anything significant. He woke up this morning and it’s a little swollen and tender in some areas. He’s not playing tomorrow night.”

Because Holmstrom won’t be available for the game against Minnesota, Aaron Downey will return to the lineup.

According to Ansar Khan, it’s not the same knee that Holmstrom injured in the Carolina game, which means last week’s mystery is solved: it was his left knee that kept him out of two games. The Wings’ press release gets more specific.   Khan also has the name of the Blue whose knee did the damage: Jay McClement.

An inconsistency between MacLeod and Khan’s reports: Bruce  says Holmstrom flew back to Detroit instead of making the trip to Minnesota.  Ansar says he flew back after making the trip. Not that it matters, but which story is right? Looks like it’s Khan, as Sipple says the same thing in his post.

Khan has one more note that is unrelated to the Holmstrom story: evidently there is another Red Wing that may be unable to  play against the Wild. The team wouldn’t say who it is, but it’s probably a forward, because Holland said he’d recall someone from Grand Rapids if this player can’t suit up. As Khan points out, they have an extra defenseman in the person of Derek Meech, but they don’t have any extra forwards with two (Maltby and Holmstrom) injured. So, keep an eye out for Mark Hartigan’s name on the AHL transaction wire.

Wings 2, Blues 3

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Update (7:18 PM): George Malik has posted his Wings/Blues media wrap-up and post-game wrap-up. - Matt

A few thoughts on the game:

First of all, Chris Osgood is the only reason the Blues did not lead by 3-4 goals in the first period. He was extremely sharp and kept the Wings in the game long enough for them to get their feet back under them after the first intermission.

The second period was somewhat more tilted in the Wings’ favor as they came out of the locker room looking like they were ready to play. While Osgood continued his stellar goaltending, the skaters took to the task of evening the game up, something that finally happened at 10:35 of the period when Valtteri Filppula scored his ninth of the year. 30 seconds later, Mikael Samuelsson ended a 13-game slump with his fourth, giving the Wings the lead.

Keith Tkachuk tied the game at 4:22 of the third period by tipping in a Paul Kariya shot. Osgood had no chance on that one. The Blues, who had been physical all night, became downright rough after that. I thought the Wings did a fair job of adapting to the physical game, but the Blues’ size and determination to grind their opponents into a pulp wore the forwards down.

I fully understand the Blues’ strategy of playing a rough and physical game. What I don’t understand is where the officials were during all of that, as St. Louis was often outside the bounds of legality, at least as I understand the rules. There are many examples, but the three very obvious cross-checks by a Blues defender on Johan Franzen near the end of the game stand out in particular. Franzen is the second largest player on the team and is one of the tougher Red Wings, but he was knocked down at least twice a couple vicious high cross-checks – while the ref was watching.

Another blown call that hasn’t gotten a lot of press was the kneeing that resulted in Holmstrom’s injury. I don’t recall the name of the Blues involved, but  Holmstrom was effectively tag-teamed by two of them, with one taking him down from behind and the other, who had been covering Zetterberg, sticking his knee out as he came in. Although Holmstrom made it off the ice on his own, he could have something of a serious injury.

The worst blown call, however, had little to do with exceptionally rough or nasty play on the part of the Blues. It was a clean-cut case of goaltender interference that somehow went unpenalized on the game-winner. While Lee Stempianak was busy winding up for his shot, Jeff David Backes was backing into Osgood. By the time the shot was on it’s way, Backes was making contact with Osgood and clearly interfering with his ability to make the save. Had it been at the other end of the ice, with Tomas Holmstrom doing anything like the same thing, the goal would have been waived off in a second, probably because the whistle would have blown before the shooter would have had a chance to release the puck.

I can stomach losses. I have to, because the Wings aren’t going to win them all. This one goes down badly, however, particularly because of that game-winner. There was no way the Wings were going to be able to tie things up after that, with the Blues playing pre-Lockout defense like they were and the officials letting them get away with it.

I hate complaining about officials because it is so often a cop out and an excuse for poor play. However, it’s difficult to ignore a blown call on the game-winning goal. The officiating for the rest of the game was bad, I thought, but I suppose the Wings could have overcome it. That task would have been made easier if they weren’t in the second game of a back-to-back, though.

Personally, I thought they held up fairly well, given that they had played the night before and were facing a rested and highly motivated team. Their final push to tie things up was great to see, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. I suppose the Blues deserve credit for breaking out of their slump with a win over the League leaders, but they aren’t going to get it from me.

Instead, I’ll give credit to Pavel Datsyuk for standing up to the Blues, who singled him out all night and ran him multiple times, with each instance becoming more dangerous as they became emboldened by the indifference of the officials. Rather than becoming gun-shy, Pavel did his best to stick it to the Blues right to the end of the game. It’s quite unfortunate that he wasn’t able to do more than create chances for himself and others.

One last thing: I hate Barret Jackman and have ever since his first year, when he won the Calder Trophy over Henrik Zetterberg. The guy represents all of the dirtiness of Chris Pronger without any of the offensive upside.

This has nothing to do with his on-ice play, but I think it illustrates Jackman’s character (or lack thereof): Late in the game last night, while the Wings were pressuring in the St. Louis end, the Blues iced the puck. While the puck was going heading to the Detroit end, Jackman went to the bench and got off. The ref went over to pull him back onto the ice, as the rule stipulates, but the linesman, for whatever reason, decided that Jackman wasn’t on the ice after all. Jackman, rather than doing the honest thing by going back out voluntarily, let the officials talk it out, which gave the Blues a rest they never should have gotten. In the end, Jackman was allowed to stay on the bench. The smirk on his face as he sat down told it all. He knew exactly what he was doing. Some might call it smart of Jackman, but I call it cheap.

Anyway, the Wings fortunately get to rest today. Hopefully they’ll be ready to face Minnesota and Marian Gaborik, who was the first player to score five goals in a game since Sergei Fedorov did it in 1996.

Links

GameDay: @ St. Louis (16-12-2, 34 Pts) 8:30 ET

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Update (8:38 PM): According to Ted Kulfan, Chris Chelios isn’t thrilled about having to sit tonight, despite the fact that it’s been the Wings’ plan all along. While I understand Cheli’s frustration and think it’s great that he wants to play every game, it seems to me that Derek Meech deserves a game every once and a while.

It’s an unfortunate situation for the young defenseman, who can’t be sent down to Grand Rapids without having to clear waivers, but can’t crack the Wings’ blueline due to a very deep top-6. I’m sure Meech is proud to be a part of the organization, but this situation has to be frustrating for him, on some level, at least. As much as I’d hate to lose him, you have to wonder if maybe it wouldn’t be better for his career if the Wings’ did waive him and allow another team to take him.

Also, he isn’t necessarily a lock to become a regular next season, despite the fact that Andreas Lilja’s contract is up this year. As much as the fans revile the big Swede, the front office seems to value him and I think they’d likely try to re-sign him. With Chelios and Lidstrom locks to re-sign and Lilja also likely to return, Meech would once again be relegated to the backburner.

That’s without accounting for Kyle Quincey and Jonathan Ericsson. Anyone know how much longer they can shuttle back and forth between the AHL and NHL without having to clear waivers? I haven’t been able to find a quick answer on that.

Be sure to check out Nathan’s excellent post on the Chris Simon suspension over at HockeyTownTodd. - Matt

Update (6:02 PM): According to Bruce MacLeod, Kris Draper will play tonight, despite an earlier report that said he’d only play in one of the two back-to-back games. If you’re looking for actual quotes from Draper, see Ansar Khan’s post on the same topic.

Aaron Downey will sit out another game. I’d completely forgotten that earlier report on Draper, which is why I neglected to mention it below.

MacLeod also says that Chris Chelios will be a healthy scratch tonight in favor of Derek Meech. The Wings are sticking to their plan of not playing Cheli on consecutive nights through the first half of the season. - Matt

Tonight is the third of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The series is tied 1-1, with the Blues having won the November 13th meeting 4-3 and  the Wings winning November 21st, 3-0. They’ll face each other twice more this month (the 26th and 31st) before wrapping things up with three games in March.

The Blues rebounded from being blanked by the Wings last month with three wins in a row and an overtime loss to finish out November. Since then, however, they are just 2-4-1.  Their only wins this month have come against the Blackhawks on the 1st (3-1) and the Oilers on the 7th (4-3). Two nights after their win over Edmonton, they dropped a 9-5 decision in Colorado. After that, it was a 5-4 shootout loss to the visiting Oilers. Their remaining losses came to Florida (1-0) and Calgary (5-3). They have not played since Sunday, so once again the Wings are facing a rested team as they play their second game in two nights.

Brad Boyes leads the Blues in goals with 19, but Paul Kariya leads in points with 29 (21A). Boyes is the only Blue to have scored 10 or more goals, though Kariya is not far behind with eight. The newest member of the team, Andy MacDonald, has only five goals, but he scored one in his debut on Sunday and notched an assist.

It looks like the Blues will just be without forward Mike Johnson (hip).

Former Red Wing Manny Legace should be in the net for St. Louis. Manny has posted a 2.25 GAA and .916 save-percentage so far this season. He gave up four goals Sunday, but has beaten the Wings the last three times he’s played them in St. Louis.

For the Blues perspective, see Note Speak, St. Louis Game Time, The Hockey Chick, and The Checking Line.

The Wings are coming off a pretty decisive win over the last-place LA Kings last night. They quickly allayed any fears that they’d play down to the level of an underachieving team by jumping out to a 2-0 lead before the 10:00 mark. For a brief period at the end of the first and the start of the second, they allowed the Kings to get back into the game, as LA tied it up, but they soon took the lead again and never looked back.

Five different players scored for the Wings last night, which is a good sign for those of us who are concerned about their secondary scoring. Henrik Zetterberg started the team out with a nice shot off the feed from Nick Lidstrom and Jiri Hudler followed up a little over six minutes later with his 8th of the year. Tomas Holmstrom put the Wings up 3-2 just over three minutes after the Kings tied it with a bit of a garbage goal. Dan Cleary knocked home is 11th of the year eight minutes later. Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula finished  up the scoring in the third with their fifth and eighth goals, respectively.

Kris Draper played only 14:15 in his return from a knee sprain, but I thought he looked good out there. The only remaining injured Red Wing is Kirk Maltby, who may be back for the New Year’s Eve Blues game.

Dominik Hasek looked a little weak on the Kings’ second goal in particular last night, but ended up with 18 saves. He’ll be “backing up” Chris Osgood tonight, though he won’t see the ice in anything less than an emergency.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, be sure to stop by Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, and Winging It In Motown. HockeyTownTodd already has some pre-game comments posted.

The Wings can’t expect to have the same success on the power play that they had last night, when they went 3-for-5 with the man-advantage. The Blues are the second-best penalty killing team in the League at 87.3% and their 142 times shorthanded is good for 20th in the League (compare to Anahiem’s 207, which puts them at first, and the Wings’ 168, which is second-most). So, they don’t take a ton of penalties and they’re good at killing off those that they do take. The Wings should, of course, take advantage of what power play opportunities they are given, but they’re more likely going to have to score at even strength.

It was good to see the Wings dominate the Kings, as it bodes well for tonight The Blues have had a rough December, but they remain a dangerous team and if the Wings had gone into tonight playing they have recently, they would have been in for an upset. If, however, last night is any indication, they are at least on the road back to their “A” game, maybe somewhere between “B-plus” and “A-minus.”

The problem, of course, is that the Blues are both rested and fast, while the Wings will be tired from their game last night and from travel. Because of that, we can expect at least some trouble. The Blues are looking to this game to help them get out of the slump they’ve been in, so you can bet that they’re taking tonight seriously.

Hopefully, the Wings will be able to weather the storm at the start, a task that will be made easier by the presence of a rested Chris Osgood between the pipes. If they can balance a defensive stand with a couple early goals, that would go a long way in taking the wind out of the Blues’ sails, and all that will be left is to hold their lead. If they can’t do that and the Blues get ahead, it’ll be difficult for the Wings to stage a comeback later in the game as their energy level drops. Not impossible, but difficult.

GameDay: vs. Los Angeles (12-20-2, 26 Pts) 7:30 ET

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Update (7:33 PM): Thanks to Brian for leaving the following comment:

 Just an FYI. The NHL Center Ice Online portal was updated in the past 48 hours so that may be affecting your NHL TV link. When I watched the Penguins game last night, it was significantly different. They added some features like a chat room and some other bells and whistles. Could be they found that back way into the system and closed the loop hole.

We’ll see what happens, but it does look like NHL TV won’t be an option any more. - Matt

Update (7:27 PM):  The NHL TV link does not appear to be working, so if you’re an out-of-market fan, you can try watching it on Yahoo! here.

Fans in the Detroit area, and probably the rest of Michigan, will be blacked out, but if you have FSN Detroit, that won’t be a problem. (thanks to IwoCPO for the link) - Matt

Update (7:10 PM): If you don’t have the NHL Network or FSN Detroit, try this link out. I can’t guarantee it’ll work, however, as it isn’t working for me like I expect it to at the moment. I’m getting an error pop-up rather than a “The game is starting, please wait”-type message. - Matt

Update (6:52 PM): Looks like the NHL Network has taken the game at the expense of Center Ice subscribers, so if you’re an out-of-market fan and don’t have the Network, you may be out of luck. If, however, NHL TV is showing the game as I expect it will, you can look for a link here as soon as I get it. - Matt

Update (6:47 PM): Helene St. James confirms that Aaron Downey will sit tonight in favor of Kris Draper. - Matt

Tonight is the second of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the series 1-0 after their 4-1 win on October 14th. The remaining games will be played January 22nd in LA and February 7th in Detroit.

The last-place Kings are 2-7-1 thus far in December. Their two wins came against Buffalo on the 6th and Vancouver on the 10th. Since beating the Canucks, they’ve dropped four straight, beginning with a 6-3 loss to Chicago. The next night, they lost to Dallas; two nights later it was Minnesota; and two nights after that, it was Colorado. Tonight’s game is the first of a three-stop road trip that will take the Kings to Columbus and Nashville next. They are 4-9-1 on the road.

LA is lead offensively by Anze Kopitar, who has 15 goals and 18 assists for 33 points. Not far behind are Dustin Brown (15-13-28) and Mike Cammaleri (14-14-28). Lubomir Visnovsky has just one goal, but has notched 18 assists. Alexander Frolov’s 16 assists put him at third, but six players have scored more than his four goals.

14-point man Ladislav Nagy (hip flexor) is out tonight.

Jason LaBarbera returned from a rib injury Monday night and stopped 36 shots en route to a 4-2 loss to the Avs. Despite his 6-10-1 record, he’s managed to put up a respectable 2.59 GAA and .917 save-percentage. It looks as though we’ll see him tonight rather than J.S. Aubin.

For the Kings’ perspective, see The Battle of California,  Inside the Kings,  Hockeywood Tonight,  Purple Crushed Velvet, and  A Queen Among Kings.

The Wings are 7-0-1 in December, with their only loss coming in a 4-3 shootout decision with the Oilers on the 13th.  They haven’t been playing their best hockey for the last week and a half or so, but nonetheless have continued to pull out wins.

The slide in their play was first noticeable in their 5-2 win over Carolina on the 9th, a game in which the score was not indicative of how close the game actually was. They just were not as dominant as they had been against Minnesota and Montreal. The next night, a tired-looking Red Wings team survived a third period push by the Nashville Predators and won 2-1. On the 13th, they were lucky to earn a point against a young and rough Oilers team in one of their most underwhelming performances of the season. Against Florida on the 15th, they played down to the Panther’s level somewhat and were unable to control the game. Finally, in their most recent game, they were largely out-played by a Capitals team that clearly wanted to make a statement. They are playing “B” grade hockey, not the “A” grade stuff they have shown so often this season.

Tonight is the last of a four-game homestand. They will hit the road after the game tonight and will face St. Louis tomorrow to kick off a five-game trip.

Tomas Holmstrom scored two goals in his return from a knee injury, bringing is total to 16.  Only Henrik Zetterberg has more goals, with 24. Two of the Wings’ defensemen have 20 or more assists but have yet to score five goals: Nick Lidstrom (3G, 26A) and Brian Rafalski (4G, 23A).

Kris Draper will return to the lineup tonight after missing nine games with a knee sprain. My guess is Aaron Downey will be a healthy scratch to make room for him. Kirk Maltby (back) is still out.

Dominik Hasek will start tonight. Chris Osgood will be the starter tomorrow night.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, and Winging It In Motown.

Hopefully the Wings will use this game to fine-tune their game heading into a tough road trip. The Kings are having a rough season, but they have the talent to make life difficult for teams and if the Wings float into this game as they have over the past week and a half, they’ll be in for a fight. I’d like to see the Wings play their trademark puck possession style and shut down the Kings completely. Will it happen? I can’t tell you.

12/18 Update

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… Ansar Khan  reports that Dominik Hasek will start tomorrow night versus LA, while Chris Osgood will start Thursday. While that goes against the rotation policy, it’s not an unusual move as the Wings prefer that Dom go through the same day-long warm up process before every game he plays and that’s just not possible on the second day of a back-to-back, particularly when they have to fly to another city.

… Khan also says Kris Draper will return to the lineup tomorrow night. I’m guessing that will mean Aaron Downey will sit, but Mike Babcock wouldn’t reveal anything to the media.

… Khan’s final update is on Kirk Maltby, who doesn’t see himself returning until New Year’s Eve at the earliest. Via Red Wings TV, here is the interview from which Khan got his quotes from Malts.

… Lastly, be sure to check out the NHL’s Frozen Moment (alternate link) today. (via Snapshots)