Monthly Archive for January, 2008Page 3 of 5

GameDay: vs. Vancouver (25-17-4, 54 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 17, 2008
in 2007-2008, Canucks and GameDay
. 0 Comments

Tonight is the third of four meetings between these two Western Conference teams. The Wings lead the series 2-0 with 3-2 wins October 24th and October 28th. The Canucks will play the host in the fourth and final game, on February 23rd.

Vancouver is 3-3-0 thus far in 2008, with wins over the Rangers and Islanders starting out the year. They followed that with a pair of losses beginning with a 3-1 decision in San Jose on the 10th and continuing the next night at home with the Coyotes winning 4-3. On Sunday, they went to a shootout in St. Louis and pulled out a 4-3 win. They then lost to the Blue Jackets 3-2 on Tuesday. They have not won in regulation since January 3rd at Madison Square Gardens. Tonight’s game is the last stop in a tour of three Central Division cities.

Henrik Sedin leads the Canucks in points with 48, but his brother Daniel leads the team in goals with 22. Three other Canucks have 10 or more goals: Markus Naslund (15), Ryan Kesler (12), and Tyler Pyatt (11).

Vancouver will be without Kevin Bieksa (cut calf) and Brendan Morrison (wrist) and may be without Mattias Ohlund (neck).

Roberto Luongo will get the start for the Canucks. Luongo has posted 6 shutouts, a 2.04 GAA and a .927 save-percentage through 38 games this season.

For the Canucks’ side of things, see Canucks and Beyond,  Canucks Fangirl, The Canucks Genome Project Blog, Canucks Hockey Blog,  Orland Kurtenblog,  Stick in Rink,  Waiting for Stanley, and  Yet Another Canucks Blog.

The Wings are 4-2-1 in 2008, with losses coming in each of their last three games. The skid began with a 6-5 shootout loss to Minnesota a week ago and continued with a 3-2 decision in Ottawa on Saturday. They failed to pull out a win on Tuesday, falling instead to Atlanta, 5-1. They will be looking to avoid going into a three-game road trip on a losing streak.

The team’s offensive leaders, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, have combined for just one goal over the three-game skid, though they have put together six points.

It looks like Dallas Drake (swollen knee)  will be out for the second game. Aaron Downey should be in the lineup again, as a result.

Bruce MacLeod’s projected lines are as follows:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Franzen-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Cleary-Drpaer-Maltby
Hudler-Kopecky-Downey

He also provides projected defensive pairings:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Lebda-Chelios

Hopefully Babcock will stick with those. I noticed that he had Lidstrom paired with Kronwall and Rafalski paired with Lilja against Atlanta, for the first and second periods at least. I stopped keeping track after that. Needless to say, it didn’t go all that well.

Dominik Hasek will get the start tonight. He faced Atlanta on Tuesday after Chris Osgood was pulled and made seven saves.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, stop by 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. Todd has his usual numbers posted at HTT and OklahomaWingNut has an excellent GDT posted at Kukla’s Korner Forums.

This is a big game for the Wings. They could really use a win here as they prepare to go fly to California for a three-game trip that includes back-to-back contests in LA and Anaheim next week.  The Canucks have not had an easy transition to the new year and should be vulnerable to a Red Wings team looking to get back on its feet.

The most encouraging thing the claim by the Vancouver Province that Roberto Luongo is off his game, as it has been three hot goalies that have caused the Wings fits during this skid. The fact that the Canucks’ offense isn’t humming along should also be a good sign, as the Wings’ defense has struggled during the loss streak as well.

Still, those things cannot be taken for granted and you can bet the Wings know it. The question is whether they’ll be able to put that knowledge into action and bring the level of play that’s been missing since their too-close 1-0 win over Colorado  last week. The noticeable drop in their game began against a Northwest Division team, deepened against another, and will hopefully end tonight against a third.

Wings 1, Thrashers 5

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 16, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Thrashers
. 3 Comments

Update (7:13 PM): Missing “Highlights” link added below. - Matt

I don’t have much to say about this game. There isn’t much to say.

I hope that was the low point of the season, because it sure felt like it.

I have to give the Thrashers credit for playing such a great game. We shouldn’t get so hung up on the Wings’ performance and forget what Atlanta did. Marian Hossa was a stud. Kari Lehtonen was a wall. Ilya Kovalchuk was only barely kept to a single point. They knew what was at stake and got the win they needed to vault Carolina for the Southeast Division lead and third place in the Conference. Compare that to what a win would have meant for the Wings: 72 points, 10 ahead of Ottawa and 15 ahead of San Jose. That’s the game in a nutshell: the Thrashers had something to play for. The Wings? Not so much.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start riding Chris Osgood for his play since the contract extension and being named an All Star. I was guilty of that kind of thinking last night. The fact is, though, he hasn’t had a team playing in front of him and he can’t be expected to completely stone guys like Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa. I did think maybe last night would be the night Dominik Hasek took over the #1 spot on a more official basis, but I suspect the goaltending rotation will continue.

By the way, I’m not so sure about Babs’ decision to pull Osgood there. Was it really worth sending out Hasek cold? They are fortunate he wasn’t tested much early on. I suppose it accomplished the goal of causing the Wings to pick up their play and tighten their defense, but it seemed like an unnecessary risk.

I’m going to go ahead and call out Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg here. Since this slump started in the Colorado game, the Eurotwins have combined for two goals. Zetterberg has three assists over that span, and Datsyuk has two. Contrast that with just about any four-game stretch during the season and you won’t get a favorable result, for either player (though more so for Zetterberg). The Wings best players have been anything but over the past four games.

They have one game to get things back on track before they head to California. If they can’t at least put up a good fight Thursday night, it’ll be a long trip. According to Bruce MacLeod, they got a “loud refresher about the penalty-kill” at practice today. That’s a start.

This isn’t the end of the world by any means. They’ve built up quite a buffer zone between themselves and the rest of the League and can afford some slipping. Some adversity would probably even do them some good. But that doesn’t mean letting this develop into a 4-6 game losing streak is advisable. They’d obviously like to pull out of this before it becomes a full-on nosedive and I’m confident they will.

Links

GameDay: vs. Atlanta (22-22-2, 46 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 15, 2008
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Thrashers
. 3 Comments

Update (7:35 PM): Be sure to stop by the chat room at Abel to Yzerman for the new-style liveblog. - Matt

Update (3:36 PM): Some pre-game interviews courtesy of Red Wings TV:

- Matt
The Detroit Red Wings and the Atlanta Thrashers face off for the first and only time tonight at Joe Louis Arena. The teams have split their last two meetings, with the Wings winning 6-5 in overtime on December 31st, 2003, and the Thrashers winning  7-6 on December 13th, 2005.

The Thrashers are 3-2-1 in 2008, with wins over Carolina, Buffalo, and Pittsburgh. Their 3-2 shootout win over the Penguins halted a two-game skid in which they lost to Florida (3-2 SO) and Philadelphia (4-1). Prior to that, wins over Buffalo (5-2) and Carolina (5-4) sandwiched a 4-3 loss in a second game against the Hurricanes. Atlanta is second in the Southeast Division and 10th in the East, two points back of Boston.

Ilya Kovalchuk leads both the Thrashers and the League with 37 goals. His 62 points and 25 assists are also team bests. Marian Hossa (16), former Red Wing Slava Kozlov (12), and Todd White (10) are the only other Thrashers with 10-or-more goals. Hossa and rookie defenseman Tobias Enstrom both have 23 assists. Lately, Kozlov has been moved from the wing to second-line center for the Trashers.

The Thrashers will be without Brad Larsen (groin), Steve McCarthy (strained ribcage) and Jim Slater (groin). Eric Perrin will return to the lineup and “will skate with Bobby Holik and Pasquel Dupuis.”

Kari Lehtonen will get the start for Atlanta.

For the Thrashers’ perspective, see Blueland Roar, Do The Trashers Have Large Talons? (pre-game comments here), Talking Trash, and Thrash Talk.

The Wings fell to 4-1-1 in 2008 with a 3-2 loss in Ottawa Saturday night. It was one of the more disappointing games of the season, as they underachieved for about 40 minutes and through they made it a game in the third, the Senators pulled out the win. Of course, it probably didn’t help that Henrik Zetterberg was likely playing with flu symptoms, as pointed out by HockeyTownTodd yesterday.

The game followed a frustrating 6-5 shootout loss to Minnesota on Thursday. It was one of those rare nights where the defense let the opposition take over the game and as a result the Wings were lucky to escape with a point.

This slide began with the team’s too-tightly-contested 1-0 win over Colorado on the 8th. Prior to that, they had put on strong performances in games against Chicago (3-1) and Dallas (3-0, 4-1).

Despite the two losses, they retain their first place lead in the Central Division, Western Conference, and League with a 33-9-4 record and 70 points.

Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in goals (37) and points (55). Pavel Datsyuk is second with 55 points and 38 assists. Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski are 1-2 in League-wide defenseman scoring with 41 and 38 points, respectively.

Aside from Zetterberg, the Wings have five players with 10 or more goals: Datsyuk (17), Tomas Holmstrom (17), Daniel Cleary (16), Valtteri Filppula (14), and Jiri Hudler (11). Rafalski and Johan Franzen both have 8 and should crack 10 relatively soon.

Hudler snapped a 7-game goal-less streak with the tying goal Saturday night. He seems to score in bursts, so keep an eye on him over the next couple games.

The team will be without forward Dallas Drake, who injured his knee in a collision with Ottawa’s Dany Heatley on Saturday. Though the team is calling the injury minor, he has missed two practices because of it. Aaron Downey will dress tonight instead and will skate with Tomas Kopecky and Kirk Maltby. That should help the team be a little more physical, which has been something of a problem lately.

Matt Ellis is a healthy scratch for the fourth straight game.

Here are the lines from practice, as recorded by Bruce MacLeod:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Zetterberg-Cleary
Draper-Franzen-Samuelsson
Downey-Kopecky-Maltby

In another piece, MacLeod reports that the Wings are putting Franzen in the middle in order to test him against another big center, Bobby Holik. The move is in preparation for next week’s trip to California, in which they’ll face oversized forwards such as Joe Thornton and Ryan Getzlaf.

The defensive pairings should look like this:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Lebda-Chelios

Hopefully Babcock will stick with that look and not resort to this.

As per the goalie rotation, Chris Osgood will get the nod tonight for the Wings. As pointed out by Ansar Khan, Osgood is 7-1-0-0 in his career versus the Thrashers.

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. Todd has some numbers over at HTT and OklahomaWingNut has a GDT at Kukla’s Korner Forums.

Tonight is an important game for the Wings as they look to pull out of the dive they’ve been in over the last week or so and get back on track as they near a big road trip. You can bet the Trashers, who are looking to climb the standings, will play hard and that Ilya Kovalchuk will make things interesting more often than not. Hopefully the Wings will be prepared for that. A return to the dominant play of earlier this month would be nice, as would a return to their formerly dangerous power play.

1/14 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 14, 2008
in Aaron Downey, Andreas Lilja, Brett Lebda, Dallas Drake, Injuries, Thrashers and Trade Rumors
. 2 Comments

Update (11:05 PM): Be sure to read Pete’s well-thought-out followup post on the Trade Question. Nonetheless, I remain unenthusiastic about trade possibilities.

I guess part of my reluctance in this is due to my belief that too much tinkering (read: any tinkering) would mess up what’s already a good thing. The Wings can always try to “trade up,” I suppose, but why? I’m in basic agreement with HockeyTownTodd on this (from the comments):

I am reluctant to play wannabe GM, and think the Wings should stand pat. The girl should dance with the guy who brought her to the prom.

As long as the Wings are healthy, why would they want to risk screwing up team chemistry for what may only be marginal potential gain? - Matt

Update (10:40 PM): I feel I should clarify my position on the Blake/Lebda/Meech thing. As I said below, I think the argument that the Wings will look to improving their defense at the deadline makes sense, given the consequences of injuries last post-season. That said, I don’t know that a move is really all that necessary.

Derek Meech has played in a grand total of nine games for the Wings this season. In those nine games, he put up zero point. So the kid hasn’t dazzled offensively. But what do you expect? He’s a rookie in the NHL with a precarious spot on one of the deepest teams in the game. It’s perfectly understandable if he plays a conservative game in his position. Heck, it’s probably demanded of him.

He’s minus-2 and that may not be impressive, but this is: he’s taken zero penalties. For comparison’s sake, Kyle Quincey had zero penalty minutes through six games with the Wings in the regular season last year, and just two through 13 playoff games. I’ve frequently seen Quincey touted as a rock-solid young defenseman and part of the reason for that was his conservative play. Why doesn’t Meech get the same credit?

When Meech has been in the lineup, I generally only notice him the first time I see his #14 and think “Shanny…” In my experience, hardly noticing a young defenseman is a good thing. I don’t think Meech is an exception to that rule. There’s no need for him to be flashy or to “show anything.” He just has to do his job, and I think he’s done it pretty well for someone relegated to a practice drone.

There are far worse things than having Derek Meech as a seventh defenseman. A way to improve the situation would be to get him in the lineup more often in the second half. Give Chris Chelios a rest more often. Bench Andreas Lilja after a bad game in order to motivate him. Another “conditioning stint”(I’m told Derek has been “awesome” in his brief return to Grand Rapids, by the way. He should re-join the team late this week.). Whatever it takes to get him some playing time. Then Meech will gain the confidence he needs to stand out more. He’s not going to put up huge numbers, but he’s more than capable of being a solid, steady depth defenseman.

That said, I did write below that, “The team may be better off including Derek Meech in such a trade.” Of course, there I meant relative to trading Brett Lebda, whose upside is greater than Meech’s. I certainly didn’t mean to imply I think they should trade Meech. I’m not a fan of the idea of trading either of them, though if I had to choose, Meech would be the one to go.

My point is this: The Wings can go get a veteran (such as Keith Carney, as suggested by Todd below) if they feel they must and that they can get a good deal. It probably can’t hurt (they’re generally good at finding players that fit with team chemistry). But they also can stick with what they have and probably do okay as well, assuming everyone stays healthy. - Matt

… Bruce MacLeod, George Sipple, and Ansar Khan report that Dallas Drake missed practice today due to a knee injury sustained on the same collision in which Ottawa’s Dany Heatley separated his shoulder. The collision happened around the 3:42 mark of the third period Saturday night and was the last time Heatley saw the ice.

Drake, however, was able to play two more shifts before hitting the bench for the final time at 11:21, finishing with just under seven and a half minutes. Drake has started to get less time since the return of Kirk Maltby, so the low TOI wasn’t necessarily due to his knee. He is, however, questionable for the game against Atlanta tomorrow night, though Mike Babcock told Sipple that he thinks Drake will be available.

… All three beat writers also note that a possible replacement for Drake in the lineup, Aaron Downey, hurt his knee in practice when he fell and hyper-extended it. He  did return, though, and seemed none the worse for wear. According to MacLeod, he shared time with Matt Ellis skating on the fourth line.

… According to MacLeod, the team “spent significant time” practicing their power play today. That’s good news as they’ve been pretty ineffective with the man-advantage for a while now. MacLeod has a good piece on that topic here.

… Ansar Khan addresses the Trade Question by claiming Rob Blake would be a better acquisition than Mats Sundin. He presents a good argument, though I wonder if Blake isn’t at the end of the road at 38. He would, as Khan points out, be cheaper than Sundin, though. He’d also fill in an actual need (making the defensive corps an experienced seven), whereas the Swede would be somewhat extraneous on a team already full of forwards.

Pete at yzerman is god is all for Blake and outlines a possible trade scenario involving Brett Lebda.

I have to say that I’d hate to see that happen. As Pete points out, that would probably result in a third pairing of Andreas Lilja and Chris Chelios. Whereas Pete considers that an upgrade over Chelios/Lebda, I’d call it a nightmare. The two slowest defensemen in the same pair? One of the reasons Chelios remains so effective is that he has a smooth skating partner in Lebda. The same goes for Lilja with Lidstrom.  Put them together and they’ll both be relegated to pylon status.

Sure Lebda doesn’t have the size. Sure he’s not producing offensively like he should be. But his speed and skating ability alone makes him worth keeping.

The team may be better off including Derek Meech in such a trade. It would go a long way in clearing the logjam and would give the kid an actual chance to play in the NHL.

Who knows, though, whether the Wings will actually look to Blake to fill out their defense? It stands to reason that they’d want to shore up against injuries this time around, as losing Mathieu Schneider while already down Niklas Kronwall was probably the single biggest reason they were eliminated, but Blake may not be their man. Holland likes to go for guys few people were expecting and the more I hear the Blake rumor, the less I’ll believe it.

… Lastly, the Thrashers are pumped to be visiting Detroit tomorrow night.

Wings 2, Senators 3

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 13, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Senators
. 5 Comments

Some folks, such as Sherry at Scarlett Ice, and Jes Golbez at AOL Fanhouse, are writing that the game lived up to the hype. I have to disagree and it’s not because the Wings lost. Had they played at a level on par with that the Senators played and still lost, I would, of course, be disappointed, but I’d be right there with the people saying it was as good a game as advertised. But they didn’t play at the same level as the Senators, not for much of the game, anyway.

Whereas Ottawa came out of the gates in all three periods flying, the Wings were flat when they needed life the most. They were able to make it a game in the third period, but they couldn’t keep up in the end. Usually it is Detroit that has the opposition standing around, watching them play. Last night, for too much of the game, the Wings were the observers.

Some scattered thoughts:

… Despite their even strength reunion, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were all but invisible. I think the fact that Ottawa’s CASH line often seemed to have their way with the Wings’ defense while the Eurotwins were by and large silent may have been the most disappointing aspect of the game. They and Tomas Holmstrom remain one of the top lines in hockey, but it’s obvious that there is some separation there.

… I’m thankful Dominik Hasek played as well as he did.He made a number of huge saves and kept his team in the game when they were busy doing pylon impressions for the speedy Senator forwards.

The first Alfredsson goal was screened, so there can’t be much blame there. Mike Fisher’s goal was the result of a bad turnover and while you’d like to see Dom control the rebound better, there wasn’t much he could do. Fisher’s acceleration on that play was incredible. He was screened on the game-winner as well, though of course he could have held the post better. Can’t really blame him for it, though.

29 saves should be enough to win a game.

… The Wings have become much more physical than they used to be, but the fact that they were knocked around by Ottawa, of all teams, is pretty embarrassing. I found myself thinking more than once that it would have been nice to have had Aaron Downey in the lineup. Perhaps he could have awakened his teammates. Perhaps not. I don’t know. But when Chris Kelly gets away with knocking Dallas Drake in the back of the head, you know something is wrong.

… With the exception of the setup leading to Brian Rafalski’s goal and maybe one or two other man-advantages, the Wings’ power play was pathetic. At times even embarrassingly so. Their inability make a decent pass was a problem in all situations, though.

… While on that topic, I should just mention that part of the Wings’ problems may have stemmed from the fact that the first period was so broken up by chintzy penalty calls, on both sides. Why officials feel they have to ruin a perfectly good hockey game between two highly skilled and generally clean teams is completely beyond me.

… Early in the third, Dany Heatley initiated contact with Dallas Drake at the endboards, but ended up taking the brunt of the damage, as he went down shoulder first. He didn’t return to the game and will be out 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder. Unfortunate for the Sens, of course, but I’m more concerned with the fact that the Wings only somewhat took advantage of his absence.

… Rafalski’s goal gave the Wings the life they had been lacking most of the night. Prior to that, I had started to wonder whether they’d score at all, with their offensive opportunities boiled to a bare minimum and with Ray Emery making all the necessary saves. When Rafalski found himself wide open in the slot, it seemed ordained, but at the same time I thought, “Wouldn’t it be typical if he got stoned or sent it wide?” Then he scored and we had a game.

… Somehow Jiri Hudler found a spot in the corner to put the puck a little over four minutes later, tying the score at two. If the game was ever a nail-biter, it was after that. I was thinking my prediction for the Fanhouse could come true.

… Then Alfredsson made it 3-2 with just under three minutes left. So much for that.

… End verdict: the Senators took this game seriously and earned the win. The Wings evidently took it somewhat more lightly and were lucky to escape with a respectable-looking score. I’m sure they’d make a better showing in a rematch, but they’d be better off worrying about getting back on track now or else there won’t be a rematch.

They have games against Ilya Kovalchuk and Roberto Luongo (otherwise known as Atlanta and Vancouver) this week before a three-game trip around California starting Saturday. Tuesday is as good a time as any to halt this skid.

… I leave you with a quote from the Senators’ coach, John “Adolf” Paddock, via Hockey Capital:

“[C]ome on! No more questions? MVP of the league this year? Votes? Hand up for Zetterberg? No? Alfredsson? Yes?”

I won’t relate my initial reaction to reading that. This is meant to be a family blog, after all.

I will, though, say this: I think the fact that the Wings didn’t miss a beat when Hank was out last month effectively took him out of Hart consideration. He’s one of the top players in the League (who just happened to have a bad outing last night, Paddock, no doubt due to having come down with the flu), but even calling him the Wings’ MVP would probably be a stretch because of Pavel Datsyuk.

Personally, I’d rather have it that way. The Wings, I’m sure, are concerned with Zetterberg’s health, but they also have the consolation that, if he does go down, they have a wealth of depth to help make up for his absence. On the other hand, members of the Senators organization should be developing ulcers and seeing psychiatrists due to stress over whether or not Alfredsson will go down.

So, you can have your Hart Trophy candidate, Paddock. I’d take a team over a single player any day. That may seem like an empty point the day after the Senators beat the Wings, but tell me what the score have been without Alfredsson’s tallies.

Links

Wings 2, Senators 3 Post delayed

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 13, 2008
in Blog
. 3 Comments

Update (8:05 PM): See recap here. - Matt

I’ve got a lot of non-site stuff to do today, so I won’t have a reaction to the game until later. Perhaps some time in the evening. Sorry.

GameDay: @ Ottawa (28-10-4, 60 Pts) 7:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 12, 2008
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Senators
. 0 Comments

Update (1:19 PM): AOL Fanhouse’s Greg Wyshynski interviewed Christy Hammond of Behind the Jersey, IwoCPO of Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Jeremy Milks of Black Aces, Sherry of Scarlett Ice, Erin Nicks of The Universal Cynic and yours truly for the game today. Be sure to check it out. - Matt

Update (1:05 PM): According to Bruce MacLeod, Henrik Zetterberg did not practice today due to the flu. Mike Babcock told him that he is under the impression that Hank will play, but there’s obviously a possibility that he won’t.

The lines at practice looked like this:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson
Cleary-Draper-Maltby
Drake-Kopecky-Downey

As Babcock told MacLeod, the Wings have played without Zetterberg before, but this could have come at a better time. Hopefully he’ll be well enough to play! - Matt

Update (11:58 AM): George Malik has a good round-up of pre-game hype over at Snapshots. - Matt

Update (10:04 AM): Also be sure to stop by the forums at Kukla’s Korner, where OklahomaWingNut has put together a great GDT. Based on the lines he provides from the Senators’ practice yesterday, it looks like Alfredsson, Spezza, and Healtey could be together tonight.

I should have started linking to those a long time ago. - Matt

Update (9:59 AM): The New York Times‘ Slap Shot blog will be liveblogging the game tonight. - Matt

Tonight is the only game between these two League powerhouses this season. The Senators won the last meeting, 3-2 on December 12th, 2006.

This is the Wings’ first trip to Ottawa since a 3-2  (very early OtW post there) overtime win on October 11th, 2003, when their roster was stocked with players like Brett Hull, Ray Whitney, Darren McCarty, Boyd Devereaux, Derian Hatcher, and Mathieu Dandenault, not to mention Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, and Jiri Fischer. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.

The second-place Senators are 3-1-0 in 2008, with their only loss since the New Year coming to Washington on the 1st. Since then, they’ve earned wins over Buffalo (2x) and Tampa Bay. Their most recent game was their second win over the Sabres, a 3-2 shootout decision on Thursday. They are in the middle of a three-game homestand.

Daniel Alfredsson leads the Sens in points with 56 points, 26 of which are goals. Dany Heatley is second with 55 points and 25 goals. Their center, Jason Spezza, has 15 goals and 37 assists for 52 points. Obviously, the players that make up the so-called CASH line are the ones to watch in Ottawa. The only question is whether or not they’ll play together tonight.

Mike Fisher is the only other Senator with 10 or more goals at 15.

The Senators will be without Patrick Eaves (shoulder).

Ray Emery will get the start for Ottawa.

For more of the Senators’ side of things, see Scarlett Ice,  Sens Army Blog, Senators Row,  Black Aces,  Five For Smiting, and Got Sens. The guys from Sens Army Blog wrote a guest post on the team for Christy Hammond’s Behind the Jersey.

The Wings fell to 4-0-1 in 2008 with a 6-5 shootout loss to Minnesota on Thursday.  It was one of their weaker defensive efforts this season and they were fortunate to escape with a point. On Tuesday, they won a close game with Colorado, 1-0, and on Sunday, they overcame their struggles with Chicago by posting a 3-1 win. Prior to that, they got two wins over the Stars under their belt, beginning with a 4-1 performance on the 2nd and continuing with a 3-0 shutout on Saturday.

The team is fully healthy and it doesn’t look like there will be any lineup changes for tonight. So, Aaron Downey and Matt Ellis will sit out for the third consecutive game.

It’s safe to assume that the lines will start out something like they were in practice yesterday, as recorded by Bruce MacLeod:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Zetterberg-Cleary
Franzen-Draper-Samuelsson
Drake-Kopecky-Maltby

Expect some mixing as the game goes on. The Senators have the last change and that’s going to make it somewhat difficult for Babcock to get the exact matchup he wants on Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley. However, with centers like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Draper, he has some options.

Ansar Khan suggests Babcock may split up Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski, as is his practice on the road. In that case, Lidstrom would play with Niklas Kronwall, and Rafalski would play with Andreas Lilja. Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda should constitute the third pairing in any case.

Dominik Hasek will face his one-time team tonight for the first time since he left Ottawa. He should have something to prove.

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. Todd has some numbers for you already and Christy’s “primer” for Sens Army is here.

Tonight is a huge game for both teams. It’s a real shame that it’s the only time they meet this season, because it’s not going to settle anything. Whatever the result, one game is not enough to show superiority one way or the other. That doesn’t make a loss okay, though!

I’m cautiously optimistic that whatever happened Thursday night was an aberration and that the Wings will be back on their game tonight. It’ll be close, but, in my admittedly biased opinion, I think the Wings are the better team top-to-bottom and if they bring their “A” game, they should come out ahead.

But, like I said yesterday, if their defensive coverage is lacking like it was against Minnesota, they’ll get lit up. Which Red Wings team will we get? We should know within the first few minutes.

Wings 5, Wild 6 (SO)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 11, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Wild
. 8 Comments

Not much to say about this one. Despite the fact that they hung in and kept it a game, the Wings didn’t deserve to win this one anyway. It was one of their weaker defensive performances of the season, to be sure, and was all the more disappointing in that it came against the imposters from “Farber’s Hockeytown.” Fortunately, the Wings will have the chance to cleanse themselves of this on February 5th.

A few thoughts:

… I’m not sure what happened to the team defense last night, but the Wild had 28 shots  and though it’s an exaggeration to say that 20 of them were excellent scoring chances, that’s how it seemed. The Wings had little or no presence in front or behind their own net, as the Wild were setting up plays from Wayne Gretzky’s Office™ all night. It got so bad that frickin’ Todd Fedoruk scored from the slot on the setup from Matt Foy.

… Marian Gaborik showed over and over again last night why he’ll be on All Star teams for years to come (as long as he stays healthy). He’s an electrifying player and when he had the puck on his stick in the Wings’ zone, I was sure something was going to happen.

… Chris Osgood didn’t have much of any chance on the Wild’s goals, but it was still unusual to see him get shelled like that. I don’t think he’ll pull a Miikka Kiprusoff and start tanking now that he’s signed an extension, but last night wasn’t exactly an auspicious beginning to the last stage of his career.

… Seeing the Wings tie it up a little over a minute after the Wild went up 1-0 was encouraging. I’d love to see Brett Lebda make more passes like that.

… Valtteri Filppula scored one of the best goals of the year to bring the Wings within one late in the second. He may have fanned on his initial shot, but his individual effort leading up to that point and the goal scored on the second try ought to have the play on the end-of-the-year highlight reels.

And didn’t I say he’d break out of his slump spectacularly?

… Dallas Drake’s goal? Talk about coming out of nowhere!

…  After Niklas Kronwall’s goal made it 4-4, I was skeptical of Jacque Lemaire’s decision to pull Nicklas Backstrom. After seeing Josh Harding’s performance in a relief role, I understand. That kid has to have the Fastest Glove in the West. And the Wings kept shooting at it, which was maddening.

… Dan Cleary’s go-ahead goal at 18:52 was quite awesome. The relief was short-lived, however, as Eric Belanger scored at 19:11 to tie things up. Just after Ken Daniels said, “And we’re headed to overtime,” the Wild took a long shot on Osgood and I thought, “… he scores!”  because it seemed like that kind of night. Fortunately or unfortunately, it didn’t happen and we had to sit through a tense overtime period.

… The shootout was frustrating. Datsyuk tried a glove-side deke and failed. Demitra sent the puck off the side of the net, but probably had Osgood beat. Zetterberg  tried that idiotic Forsbergian deke (one of his his two shootout moves) and Harding was with him the whole way. Complete failure, Hank. Rolson’s blast startled Osgood. Hudler proved the only Red Wing with a shot faster than Harding’s glove as his snapper ripped through to set up the final showdown with Gaborik. Osgood didn’t really have a chance.

… Congratulations to the Wild for the win. Just don’t let it go to your heads.

… Let’s all hope the Wings’ performance in this game was a one-time thing because they’ll get lit up on Saturday if it wasn’t. If you don’t already know, they’re traveling to Ottawa for a showdown with the #2 Senators. It would be a very bad time to hit a slump.

Links

GameDay: vs. Minnesota (23-17-2, 48 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 10, 2008
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Wild
. 2 Comments

Tonight is the third of four games this season between Minnesota and Detroit. The Wings won both prior contests, beginning with a 5-0 win on December 7th and continuing with a 4-1 decision on the 22nd. The last game of the series will be played on February 5th in Minnesota.

The Wild are 3-3-0 since we saw them last. They followed up their loss to the Wings on the 22nd by getting beaten 8-3 by Dallas. They rebounded the next night with a 3-2 win in Phoenix and a 5-4 overtime win versus the Oilers two nights later. They lost 3-2 to San Jose on New Year’s Eve, but got revenge on Dallas with a 6-3 win on January 3rd. Since then, however, they’ve dropped two in a row, including a 4-1 decision in Nashville. On Monday, they lost 3-1 in Dallas. Tonight’s game is the third of a four-stop road trip that will have the Wild in Chicago tomorrow night.

Marian Gaborik leads the team with 21 goals and 40 points, and was named a Western Conference All Star reserve today. He is the only Minnesota player so honored.

Mikko Koivu is healthy, but will not dress because the team has no room on the roster. Derek Boogaard (back) is out.

Expect Nicklas Backstrom to start tonight for the Wild.

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.

The Wings are 7-1-0 since they last faced Minnesota, with their only loss coming New Year’s Eve to St. Louis. They are coming off a tightly-contested 1-0 win over Colorado on Tuesday night. The game came two nights after their first win over the Blackhawks this season, a 3-1 decision in Chicago. The afternoon before, they shut out the Dallas Stars, 3-0.

Valtteri Filppula has not scored in six games, though he has three assists over that span. I’m benching him tonight in favor of Mike Richards on my fantasy team, so that should mean he’ll break out of his slump in spectacular fashion.  Jiri Hudler also has not scored in six, so I would say he’s due, as well.

The team is fully healthy at the moment, though it is possible that Babcock could make an adjustment or two at the 11th or 12th forward level by inserting Matt Ellis and/or Aaron Downey at the expense of Dallas Drake and/or Tomas Kopecky.

Chris Osgood will be the starter tonight. He was named a reserve for the Western Conference All Stars today. Former Red Wing Manny Legace was also named to the team.

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 Wings have dominated the Wild in both games this season and ought to be able to do so again, assuming Tuesday’s close game wasn’t a sign of flagging play. Minnesota would obviously like to put on a better show this time around, but if the Wings are on top of their game, it won’t matter.

By the way, the Wild announced today that former Nashville Predators owner Craig Leopold is buying the team. So, one of Gary Bettman’s biggest supporters and top small market apologists is back in the picture. Wonderful.

Luongo turns down All Star spot

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 9, 2008
in All Star Game, Chris Osgood and Links
. 0 Comments

TSN reports that Roberto Luongo has decided to skip the All Star Game in order to spend time with his pregnant wife.  That should make Pascal Leclaire the starter and possibly open the door for Chris Osgood to be named a backup with Evgeni Nabokov.

That’s assuming the NHL is amenable to the idea of four Red Wings being on the team. If so, they should give Tomas Holmstrom a spot while they’re at it!