Archive for March, 2008

Which are you?

Posted by Matt Saler on March 26, 2008. No comments

Bruce MacLeod has a great post up over at Red Wings Corner on the two sides of being a Red Wings fan.

I tend toward the pessimistic side myself, but with streaks of optimism thrown in.

I’ll be back to regular posting tomorrow.

GameDay: @ St. Louis (30-33-12, 72 Pts) 8:30 ET

Posted by Matt Saler on March 25, 2008. One comment

Update (3:07 PM): I missed it before, but Bruce MacLeod’s latest post has projected lines and pairings for the Blues:

Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes
King-McDonald-Backes
McClement-R. Johnson-Mayers
Stempniak-Perron-Janssen
Jackman-E. Johnson
Brewer-Polak
Woywitka-Walker

MacLeod also suggests Legace will be the starter. - Matt

Update (2:55 PM): George Sipple suggests Holmstrom may just miss another week, which would put him back for the April 2nd game in Chicago. That’s certainly better than missing some of the playoffs. - Matt

Update (2:37 PM): Ted Kulfan reports that the Wings are concerned that Holmstrom may miss the start of the playoffs. That would be a heavy blow, to be sure. - Matt

Update (1:57 PM): Bruce MacLeod reports that Dallas Drake will in fact play tonight.

Also, he says Darren McCarty (ribs) is on track for a Friday debut, and Brad Stuart (broken finger) will rejoin the team tomorrow after his week off and will begin skating again. - Matt

Update (1:51 PM): Ansar Khan has an update on Tomas Holmstrom here. Tomas will have to have and MRI and ultrasound tomorrow to check on the status of his abdomen after his setback yesterday. It doesn’t sound like he’s close to returning.

Valtteri Filppula (sore knee, groin) skated after missing virtually all of practice yesterday. They’re looking at a Friday return for him.

Dallas Drake (bruised chest) wasn’t sure about his status for tonight. If he can’t go, the Wings will be short a forward. In that case, they’d probably just put Derek Meech in rather than call Darren Helm back. - Matt

The Detroit Red Wings are in St. Louis tonight for their seventh meeting with the Blues this season. The series stands tied at three, with the two teams alternating wins: St. Louis won November 13th (4-3), December 20th (3-2), and December 31st (2-0), and the Wings won November 21st (3-0), December 26th (5-0), and March 5th (4-1). The eighth and final meeting will be played on Friday in Detroit.

The Blues fell to 2-7-2 in the month of March with a 4-3 overtime loss in Chicago on Sunday. Their only wins in March came against LA on the 4th (3-2) and Montreal on the 18th (SO). The win over the Canadiens snapped a six-game losing streak that began with their loss to the Wings on the 5th. They returned to losing two days later with a 3-2 loss in Ottawa on Thursday.

The game in Chicago was the last of a nine-game road trip. Tonight is the Blues’ first home-game since their March 4th win over the Kings.

The Blues’ 72 points are good for 14th place in the West and 28th place overall. They are 14 points out of a playoff spot with seven games left.

Brad Boyes and Paul Kariya lead the Blues in points with 57 each. Keith Tkachuk is not far behind with 53. Boyes’ 38 goals is a team high. Tkachuk (23) is the only other St. Louis player to crack 20 goals. Kariya’s 42 assists lead the team by a 12-point margin over Tkachuk and Andy McDonald.

Andy McDonald (foot) is listed as probable. Martin Rucinsky (back) is doubtful. Jay McKee (foot), Dan Hinote (side), and Mike Johnson (shoulder) are out. (via St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Manny Legace sat out Sunday’s game with a “lower-body muscle strain,” but practiced yesterday. It looks like he’ll be the starter. He is 6-6-0 versus the Wings in his career.

For more on the Blues, see St. Louis Game Time.

The Wings improved to 8-2-0 in March with a 4-1 win over the Blue Jackets on Saturday. The game extended their current win streak to three games. Prior to that, they lost two in a row. A loss to the Predators (3-1) on the 15th cut short a five-game winning streak. They then lost the next day, 4-3 to Columbus. They returned to winning on the 19th with a 3-1 win over the Jackets. The next night, they doubled up the Predators, 6-3.

Tonight is the last of a three-game stretch of road games for the Wings. It hasn’t been a continuous road trip, however. They returned to Detroit after playing in Columbus on Saturday.

The Wings (50-20-6) have a seven-point lead over San Jose for first place overall. The red-hot Sharks are in Phoenix tonight facing a team that has lost its last five.

Pavel Datsyuk leads the Wings in points with 90. Henrik Zetterberg is the leader in goals with 40. Johan Franzen is the hot stick, with ten goals in his last ten, bringing his total to 22.

The Wings are scheduled to see the return of Dan Cleary (broken jaw) to the lineup tonight. He has been out since taking a Mikael Samuelsson shot to the face on February 9th in Toronto. Cleary made a significant sacrifice in order to return this quickly. For more on that, see George Malik’s post here.

Valtteri Filppula (sore knee, groin) will not return tonight, though a report over the weekend had left open the possibility. It doesn’t look like he’ll be back Friday, either.

Tomas Holmstrom (abdomen) will not return after suffering a setback yesterday. He may not play Friday.

Brad Stuart (broken finger) remains out.

Darren McCarty could be back for the game Friday.

Projected lines (via MacLeod):

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Hudler-Franzen-Cleary
Kopecky-Draper-Maltby
Drake-Hartigan-Downey

Projected pairings:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Chelios
Lebda-Lilja

Dominik Hasek is out with the flu and did not make the trip to St. Louis. Chris Osgood will start tonight. Jimmy Howard has been recalled to back him up.

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

This game will be another test of the Wings’ concentration. The Blues are having a rough month and it would therefore be easy to write them off. However, they remain a talented and dangerous team, one that could easily chose tonight to come out of their tailspin. The fact that the Blues will be playing their first home-game in 22 days will provide extra motivation.

The Wings are going to have to be prepared for rough play, especially if they are in the lead. The Blues had the Blackhawks complaining after their game Sunday, though they denied any wrongdoing. I know who I believe, however. St. Louis’ tendency to get goonish when behind dates at least from their Pronger and Quenneville days and makes them a dangerous team in more ways than one. The Wings’ forwards should especially be on the lookout for St. Louis’ resident donkey, Barrett Jackman.

Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1

Posted by Matt Saler on March 23, 2008. One comment

… Let me begin by saying I was embarrassed for the Blue Jackets last night. I don’t know how many times a Columbus player would just fall to the ice for no apparent reason or blow an easy pass for no apparent reason. The brief stretches that the Jackets looked interested were mostly brought on by Rick Nash and did nothing to make up for the long periods in which they looked like they were playing in an exhibition game.

… On the other side of the ice, the Wings were spectacular in moments, less so in others. The first and third were strong periods, but the second was a virtual yawn fest as the Wings sat back and easily beat back the feeble attempts at a comeback by a Columbus team not taking itself seriously enough to be dangerous for more than a minute at a time.

… The Wings’ first goal felt about 10 seconds late, as Pavel Datsyuk had Fredrik Norrena down and out but chose to pass it back to Nick Lidstrom, who had a clean shot at a virtual empty net. The goal was another example of Pavel’s maddening practice of passing the puck when he has a glorious scoring chance of his own. He frequently makes the right decision in those situations, and this was one such case. If he were a right-handed shooter, he would have had a clear shot at the net, but he isn’t so he didn’t.

… Henrik Zetterberg’s goal was just pathetically easy. A perfect pass from Datsyuk made the Jackets look like a pee-wee squad.

… The Jackets’ goal came off the stick of Rick Nash, who earned it with a performance the whole night that put his teammates to shame. In a perfect world, you’d like to see Hasek stop that shot, but Nash is a bona fide goal scorer and released a rocket.

… Franzen’s certainly got the hot stick. We can only hope it carries through to the playoffs.

… Datsyuk made the Jackets’ defense look like amateurs on his third period shorthanded goal. He stole the puck not once, but twice, en route to his 31st of the season. He was flying all night.

… For some reason it didn’t click with me before, but the Wings’ strategy with the first power play unit seems to be to have the defense carry the puck nearly to the blueline before dropping it off to Pavel Datsyuk, who streaks in after building up speed coming out of the Wings’ zone. They haven’t quite gotten the timing right yet, but it’ll be spectacular when they do.

… Hasek was solid. He didn’t have to face many shots (12), which has to drive him crazy. It was good to see him maintain his concentration, though.

… All in all, a solid win for the Wings, who are in a battle to retain their concentration as they finish the season against the Central.

… In response to the fact that the Wings have now had three consecutive 50-win seasons, Pavel Datsyuk told John Keating:

50 wins very important, more important sixteen wins.

Exactly. (via Snapshots)

… Tuesday should be an interesting game against the Blues. The Wings should see the return of Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula, as well as Dallas Drake, that night, and will be able to begin kicking into playoff mode for real.

GameDay: @ Columbus (33-30-11, 77 Pts) 7:00 ET

Posted by Matt Saler on March 22, 2008. No comments

Update (5:20 PM): LTL of Light the Lamp has a preview posted. Note to LTL: the Jackets have Lindstrom. The Wings have Lidstrom (no “n”). - Matt

Update (3:00 PM): Bethany of Bethany’s Hockey Rants has her game day comments posted. - Matt

Update (2:10 PM): Bruce MacLeod reports that Kris Draper will in fact play tonight.

Dallas Drake, on the other hand, will not. He has some sort of chest injury, according to Mike Babcock, though he could be back Tuesday. Draper will take Drake’s slot in the lineup so there won’t be any healthy scratches.

MacLeod also reports that Dan Cleary is expected back Tuesday and there’s a chance Valtteri Filppula could return then as well. Ansar Khan says nothing about Fil, but reports that Tomas Holmstrom is expecting to play Tuesday, too.

Khan also confirms that Dominik Hasek will start.

In another post, MacLeod provides the projected lines and pairings for the Jackets. The lines he gives are the same as below, but here are the pairings, which I did not have earlier:

Hejda-Klesla
Hainsey-Rome
Tollefsen-Tarnstrom

Lastly, a Jackets injury update from Puck-rakers: No David Vyborny (knee) or Kris Russell (groin) tonight, as both are not expected back until the Jackets’ Tuesday game. - Matt

Tonight is the seventh of eight meetings between the Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets this season and the third in the past week. The series stands tied at three, with the Wings winning November 9th (4-1), November 18th (5-4 SO), and March 19th (3-1), and the Jackets winning November 24th (3-2 OT), February 15th (5-1), and March 16 (4-3). The final game will be played on April 3rd in Detroit.

The game is on FSN Plus tonight, not FSN Detroit. If you don’t know what channel that is, see this list.

The Jackets have not played since losing to the Wings on Wednesday. The loss dropped them to 3-3-2 in March.

They are in 13th place in the West, 7 points behind the 8th seed with only eight games remaining.

Columbus lost two players Wednesday night: Dan Fritsche’s left hand was broken by a shot and Jared Boll suffered a hip pointer when he missed Tomas Holmstrom and hit his teammate Fredrik Modin instead. Fritsche will miss the rest of the season. Boll is 3-4 days from returning to the ice.

The Jackets will also be without Pascal Leclaire, who is still suffering the effects of the concussion a teammate gave him prior to the game on Sunday. Defenseman Kris Russell (groin) could return tonight, apparently. David Vyborny (sprained knee) may participate in the morning skate, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll play.

Lines from practice yesterday (via Puck-Rakers):

Nash — Malhotra — Modin
Chimera — Peca — Brule
Murray — Novotny — Zherdev
Picard — MacKenzie — Lindstrom

With Leclaire still out, Fredrik Norrena will get the start.

For the Jackets’ perspective, see John Arvai at Bleacher Report (Light the Lamp) Better on Ice, The Jacket Times, Army of the Ohio, End of the Bench, Neutral Zone Trap, and Bethany’s Hockey Rants.

The Wings improved to 7-2-0 in March with their 6-3 win over Nashville on Thursday. It was a slightly more competitive game than the score indicates, with the Wings blowing a lead in the third period only to pull away again in the end. In that sense it was a messy win, but probably a confidence building one, as they were able to overcome the Preds’ third period push.

With San Jose’s 2-1 win over Anaheim last night, the Wings’ seven-point lead decreased to five with seven games remaining for both teams.

The Wings could see the return of Kris Draper (groin tear) tonight. He centered the third line this morning, according to Bruce MacLeod.

Dan Cleary will not return today after all, having decided to wait until he has the wires removed from his jaw. He could return as soon as Tuesday, but no later than Friday.

Valtteri Filppula (knee, groin) is out until Friday.

It’s looking like Darren McCarty (ribs) could play Friday as well.

According to Ken Holland, Tomas Holmstrom (abdomen) is getting closer and could be back soon, but not today.

Projected lines (via MacLeod)

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Hudler-Franzen-Kopecky
Hartigan-Draper-Maltby
Meech-Helm-Downey

MacLeod reports that Dallas Drake did not take part in the morning skate, which could indicate an injury. However, if Drake was just given the practice off and is able to play, Derek Meech is the likely scratch.

Projected pairings:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Lebda-Chelios

Dominik Hasek will be the starter.

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, Red Wings Brasil, BR Red Wings, and Winging It In Motown. OklahomaWingNut’s GDT is here.

This is another key game for the Wings, who need to keep winning in order to hold off the red-hot San Jose Sharks. At this point in the season, losing first place overall would be a morale killer, especially given the fact that they’d have to lose to Central Division teams to do it.

The emphasis today needs to be on scoring the first goal and playing a complete game.

Wings 6, Predators 3

Posted by Matt Saler on March 21, 2008. 8 comments

A few thoughts on the game:

… Dominik Hasek had more than a few moments of brilliance last night, but they didn’t completely make up for the bad taste left in my mouth after the Predators’ first and second goals. Both game off bad deflections or bounces, but both could have been avoided through better positioning. On the first, the play was well covered by Kronwall and Lidstrom. Dom just needed to make the save. On the second, it was a broken play, but if he had covered the post better, he would have stopped the shot.

At a number of other points in the game, Hasek looked great. But those two goals are something of a concern.

… I’m still not sure how Dan Ellis missed Niklas Kronwall’s shot on the Wings’ first, and based on the fact that he looked down at his glove in disbelief, I don’t think he knows how he missed it either.

… I think Chris Chelios was the last player on the ice to know his shot went in the net on the Wings’ second. Pulling Ellis at that point was an odd move.

… It was good to see Brian Rafalski make Dan Hamhuis pay for his bone-headed up-the-gut clear for the Wings’ third.

… The second period ended with the Predators really looking like little children, eh? How Mason avoided an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for shooting the puck at Hasek, I don’t know. At least they gave that classless piece of donkey refuse Dan Hamhuis two minutes for his big man attack on Henrik Zetterberg.

… The first five minutes of the third period made me sad. That is all.

… Johan Franzen, where did that come from? Please do that again and again in the playoffs.

… Henrik Zetterberg’s pass to Pavel Datsyuk to set up the breakaway that led to the Wings’ 5th goal was a thing of beauty. Datstyuk breakaways don’t happen often enough.

… Poor Kirk Maltby couldn’t hit the empty net from 20 feet out, but got to see Datsyuk do it from halfway between the red line and the blueline. Kirk was shaking his head all the way to the bench.

… All in all, I think that game will be good for the Wings. They gave up a lead, but found a way to pull away again despite the determination of a fast and physical opponent. Hasek was able to improve his game as the night went on and hopefully regained confidence after being pulled Sunday. Here’s hoping they can carry on through with a win over Columbus on Saturday.

The win effectively ended the Predators’ playoff hopes, though they aren’t mathematically eliminated yet. The Wings, on the other hand, pulled two points further ahead of the San Jose Sharks, though the latter have a game in hand.

Highlights

DetroitHockey.net

GameDay: @ Nashville (36-30-8, 80 Pts) 8:00 ET

Posted by Matt Saler on March 20, 2008. No comments

Update (21. Mar, 1:25 PM): A correction: I erroneously stated below that, at the time of the original posting, the Predators needed five points to pass a stationary Colorado. Actually, they just needed four because they would have won the first tie-breaker due to having a better points percentage. - Matt

Update (2:52 PM): Ansar Khan now has more about Stuart at the same post. No news on which hand or what finger it is because the team isn’t saying. The team is also pegging his return at close to three weeks. Stuart will evidently start skating next week so that he can maintain some level of conditioning.

For now, at least, Chris Chelios will move up to the second pairing, not Andreas Lilja, who will make up one half of the third pairing with Brett Lebda.

Also, none of the injured players will dress tonight. Draper is still looking at a Saturday return, and it’s possible Dan Cleary could make it back then as well. A Tuesday or March 28 return is more likely, though, Khan says. Valtteri Filppula is now listed as out with both a twisted knee and a groin injury. Tomas Holmstrom (abdomen) won’t be back until next week, apparently, and Darren McCarty is expected to be available only for the last 3-4 games and beyond. - Matt

Update (1:43 PM): According to Ted Kulfan, Stuart’s finger was broken when he blocked a shot. The team is looking at a 3-6 week recovery period.

Three weeks would have him back right around the start of the playoffs, while six weeks would be more like the middle of the second round. Obviously, three weeks would be preferred. - Matt

Update (1:15 PM): Bad news via Ansar Khan: Brad Stuart will miss the rest of the regular season and possibly some playoff time with a non-displaced finger fracture. Evidently, the injury took place during the third period last night.

That will probably put Andreas Lilja back in the top four and opens the door for Derek Meech to crack the lineup in the final eight games.

This is really quite unfortunate, as Stuart and Kronwall were becoming quite the pair and could only benefit from continued regular playing time together. Here’s hoping he’s able to make it back no later than one or two games into the post-season. - Matt

Update (10:49 AM): An interesting note on the Griffins game that I forgot to mention below: while the Wings’ were utilizing Derek Meech as a forward last night, Grand Rapids was doing the same with Jonathan Ericsson, the former center, for much of the game. I’m told that was a first for the big Swede since he arrived in GR. He looked pretty good in that role, though I think he’s better suited to defense.

Also, Ansar Khan, writing for The Hockey News, recently ranked Jakub Kindl as the top Red Wings prospect. If true, it’s on potential alone, because he’s very, very green. To put it bluntly, I thought he was awful last night and that’s not been unusual for him this season. In my mind, Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Ericsson are the Wings’ 1A and 1B prospects at this stage, not young Mr. Kindl. - Matt

The Detroit Red Wings are in Nashville tonight to play the Predators for the 7th time this season. The series is tied 3-3, with the Wings winning the November 7th (3-2 SO), December 10th (2-1), and March 9 (4-3) meetings. The Predators won November 22nd (3-2), February 12th (4-2) and March 15th (3-1). The 8th and final game between the two Central Division teams will be played on March 30th in Detroit.

Nashville is 4-5-0 in March. They began the month with a pair of wins, but went 1-1 over their next two. They then dropped three straight, beginning with the loss to Detroit on the 9th. Their March 15th win over the Wings cut that skid short, but they returned to losing on Tuesday with a loss to Washington.

The Predators are four point behind the 8th place team in the West, Colorado, but would need five to pass the Avs.

JP Dumont leads the team in goals with 28, but Jason Arnott is not far behind with 26. Alexander Radulov (24) and Martin Erat (22) also have cracked the 20-goal barrier.

The Tennessean lists David Legwand (foot), Steve Sullivan (back), Martin Gelinas (knee) and Jed Ortmeyer (knee) as out.

It looks like Dan Ellis is the expected starter.

For the Predators’ perspective, see Pred-Joe and On the Forecheck.

The Wings improved to 6-2-0 in March with a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night. I missed most of the game because I was watching the Grand Rapids Griffins lose 2-1 to the Toronto Marlies, but I made it back in time to see Henrik Zetterberg score the second of his three goals. From what I saw, the Wings looked pretty good in the third, but from what I read (here and here), it wasn’t so pretty in the first and second.

The strong third was sparked by the reunion of Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, with the former first tying the game at one, then putting the Wings ahead a goal, and finally extending the lead. Hank’s third goal came came 35 seconds after his second and prompted the usual shower of hats. And glasses, which were picked up by Chris Osgood. With the win, the Wings tied the season series at 3 apiece.

Because the San Jose Sharks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in a shootout last night, the Wings still have only a five-point lead in the League.

Zetterberg’s goals were his 37th, 38th, and 39th of the season, the team high. Pavel Datsyuk (28) and Johan Franzen (20) are the only two active Wings to have cracked 20 goals.

The Wings will be without 20-goal scorer Tomas Holmstrom (abdomin) for the 7th game.

Dan Cleary (broken jaw) has been out since being injured on February 9th. He’s expected back soon however.

Kris Draper (groin) is unlikely to play tonight, though he could return Saturday.

Valtteri Filppula sat out against the Jackets with a sore groin (or is it a sore knee?) and is likely to sit again tonight. He had played a team-high 132 consecutive games prior to last night’s game.

Projected lines:

Hudler-Datsyuk-Samuelsson
Franzen-Zetterberg-Kopecky
Draper-Hartigan-Drake
Meech-Helm-Downey

Projected pairings:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Chelios-Lilja

Dominik Hasek will be in net tonight for the Wings.

This is another key game for the Wings, who will be facing a highly-motivated and skilled Predators team that had last night off. They will need to have a better start than they had against the Jackets or they stand a good chance of finding themselves in a deep hole before long. This is their chance to exact some revenge for Saturday’s loss to the Preds and if they can pick up where they left off in the third last night, they stand a good chance of pulling out a road win.

GameDay: vs. Columbus (33-29-11, 77 Pts) 7:30 ET

Posted by Matt Saler on March 19, 2008. 5 comments

Update (2:15 PM): The Columbus Dispatch’s Tom Reed reports that rookie defenseman Kris Russell is now out tonight with a groin injury. Dick Tarnstrom will enter the lineup as a result. - Matt

Update (2:08 PM): George Sipple has it from Ken Holland: Valtteri Filppula will sit tonight and probably tomorrow with a sore groin. The injury is not believed to be as bad as Draper’s.

Draper, by the way, is now looking to return Saturday instead of tomorrow night. His skate today wasn’t quite as good as he’d hoped.

New projected lines:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Hudler-Franzen-Kopecky
Draper-Helm-Drake
Meech-Hartigan-Downey

I erroneously included Holmstrom in my projected lines below. Sorry about that. An early morning gaffe. - Matt

Update (12:58 PM): The official blog reports that Meech will play on the left wing. There is still no word on who will sit.

I wonder why the team didn’t just call up Mattias Ritola if they need another forward. It could just mean this is a move to give a regular rest rather than one to cover for an injury. Alternatively, if it’s this is just an effort to get Meech playing time, it’s an odd way to do it. - Matt

Updated (12:39 PM): Bruce MacLeod reports that Derek Meech will play forward tonight. You read that right. It’ll be the first time in his NHL career that he’s moved to the front.

MacLeod also says that Aaron Downey and Darren Helm will play, which, together with the Meech news, means there is another forward injured or in need of rest, though the team would not specify who. My guess? Henrik Zetterberg.

Also, Brett Lebda and Chris Chelios will comprise the third pairing, which makes Andreas Lilja tonight’s healthy scratch.

Lastly, Tomas Holmstrom (abdomin) is still having trouble with “straight-ahead skating,” though he did participate in battle drills. Expect him back Saturday at the earliest. – Matt

Update (12:20 PM): Thanks to Bethany of Bethany’s Hockey Rants for leaving this clarification on Picard’s status in the comments:

Picard hasn’t been called up, so he definitely won’t be in the lineup.

- Matt

Update (10:11 AM): Jeff (OklahomaWingNut) has posted his GDT here. - Matt

Update (10:08 AM): A minor update to the list of injured Blue Jackets: the Columbus Dispatch does not include Alexandre Picard, so presumably he is a possible for tonight.

Also, the Dispatch confirms that Norrena will start. - Matt

Update (9:17 AM): Helene St. James has now backed up her characterization of the third pairing roster battle with a quote from Babcock that came as a direct response to the question of Chris Chelios’ status:

“”You can speculate all you want. I just went through it:There’s three guys, and there’s two jobs.”

So, Chelios isn’t a lock for a spot after all. That’s technically true for everyone on the team under Babcock’s “you have to earn it” standard, though the threshold for being scratched is obviously lower for some players than for others. It’s hard for me to imagine Chelios not earning “it,” however, so that spot’s pretty much as good as his.

A further Chelios-related note: George Malik points out that there is some question as to whether#24 will be in the lineup tonight, given the fact that team policy has been to avoid playing veterans in consecutive games. So, it’s possible we could see a slightly different third pairing. - Matt

Update (8:00 AM): By the way, I started this blog five-years ago today. Read the embarrassing first post here. - Matt

The Detroit Red Wings host the Columbus Blue Jackets tonight in the sixth meeting between the two teams this season. Columbus leads the series 3-2, with wins November 24th (3-2 OT), February 15th (5-1), and March 16 (4-3). Detroit won the November 9th (4-1) and November 18th (5-4 SO). Tonight’s game is the second of three between the Wings and the Blue Jackets this week. They face off again Saturday in Columbus..

Columbus is 3-2-2 in March thus far. They began the month on a 0-1-2 skid, but turned it around somewhat with a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay on the 9th. They lost on the 14h to Chicago, 6-3, but have won both of their games since, beginning with Sunday’s 4-3 decision over the Wings. They shut out the Flames last night en route to a 3-0 victory, earning revenge for a 1-0 loss on the 4th.

The Jackets are currently in 11th place in the West, 7 points behind 8th place Colorado. They have only a slim chance of making the playoffs, if they have any at all.

Rick Nash is the Jackets’ point and goals leader with 64 and 37, respectively. Nikolai Zherdev’s 58 points is good for second on the team, as are his 25 goals. Nash and Zherdev are the only two Jackets to crack the 20-goal barrier. Only Jason Chimera (14), Manny Malholtra (10), and Dan Fritsche (10) have reached double-digit goal totals.

Columbus will be without Fredrik Modin (flu), who did not make the trip to Detroit. The Freep lists David Vyborny (knee) as questionable and Alexandre Picard (knee) as out.

With Pascal Leclaire out with a concussion suffered Sunday in the pre-game warm-up, Fredrik Norrena should get the start tonight.Given the Jackets’ need for wins, it seems doubtful AHLer Dan LaCosta would play.

The Wings fell to 5-2-0 with their second consecutive loss Sunday afternoon in Columbus. The day before, they dropped a home game to Nashville, 3-1. The five-game win-streak with which they started the month marked a turnaround from a 4-8-2 February. They are two games into an 11-game stretch in which they will only play Central Division teams. Tonight is the first of a back-to-back that will see them in Nashville tomorrow.

The Wings clinched the Central Division and a playoff berth on the 13th with a 5-3 win over Dallas. That in part explains their subsequent lapse over the two games since: they’ve taken their foot off the pedal.

Pavel Datsyuk is the Wings’ point leader with 84. 19 of those points came over the past 19 games.

Henrik Zetterberg is the goals leader with 36, but he has not scored in seven. It seems he’s being bothered by his back or wrist. We can expect to see him rested soon.

Johan Franzen has had the hot stick lately, with eight goals in his past seven. He became the fifth Red Wing this season to break the 20-goal barrier with his second of the game Sunday and is warming up nicely for the post-season.

The Wings will be without Kris Draper (groin tear) tonight. The team called up Darren Helm to fill in if deemed necessary.

Tomas Holmstrom (abdomin) will also sit out.

Aaron Downey (flu) is able to return, though it’s possible he could be a scratch in favor of Helm.

Projected lines:

Filppula-Datsyuk-~~Holmstrom~~
Franzen-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Maltby-Kopecky-Drake
Helm-Hudler-Downey

~~That’s right. No Mark Hartigan. Wishful thinking, probably.~~ Update: Especially since Hartigan has to play, with Holmstrom out.

Projected pairings:

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Chelios-Lilja

It’s possible Babcock will mix up the top four again, putting Rafalski with Stuart and Kronwall with Lidstrom.

Chris Osgood will get the start tonight. Dominik Hasek will play tomorrow.

This is a key game for the Wings. Their lead over San Jose has dwindled to just five points and at this stage in the season, losing 1st place would be a bit of a letdown after all their hard work to this point. They need to elevate their play in preparation for the playoffs, rather than allow themselves to become bored by the meaningless nature of these last games. The highly-motivated Columbus Blue Jackets provide a good opportunity to return to form and to work on weaknesses.