Update (3:58 PM): Pavel’s in, officially, says Khan.
Ansar also has more on the Oilers’ health situation. Hadn’t caught on about Souray and Staios being out with concussions earlier. Comrie and Visnovsky are out with the flu, but Smid is in. Apparently, he’s recovered from H1N1. – Matt
Short on time today, so this’ll be brief:
… The Oilers are the losers of their last three games, with their most recent win coming at the end of a streak of three a week ago. Since then, they’ve lost a couple road games (Calgary and Vancouver) and a home-game (Colorado). They were shut out in that last, 3-0.
… They’re 6-5-1 with 13 points, which is good for 8th place in the West right now.
… The Oilers are one of a few teams with a player (Ladislav Smid) that’s come down with swine flu. I say getting out of Edmonton without coming down with the virus should be about as high on the list on the priorities as getting out of there with a win is.
… Nikolai Khabibulin is the likely starter for the Oilers tonight. He’s posted a pedestrian 3.07 GAA and .906 save-percentage so far this season.
… The Wings are looking to build on Tuesday’s success in Vancouver with another strong performance tonight. Here’s hoping some more attention will be paid to defense this time around.
… Pavel Datsyuk skipped out on practice yesterday after he had trouble getting a skate on. Evidently, he blocked a shot in Vancouver and the swelling got in the way. He’s slated to play, though.
… Darren Helm, who was a healthy scratch Tuesday, will return to the lineup, as will Patrick Eaves, who has yet to make an impact as a Red Wing. They’ll dress at the expense of Maltby, who’s having his best season in years, and Abdelkader, who should have been scratched over Helm Tuesday. Brad May remains in the lineup.
… Jimmy Howard will have the opportunity to follow up his strong relief effort in Vancouver with a start tonight. He was scheduled to start before he came in Tuesday, so it’s no commentary on the status of Chris Osgood, who will get to redeem himself Saturday, unless Babcock changes his mind unexpectedly.
… The Wings need to be at their best tonight and they need to do what they can to avoid scrums and unnecessary close contact with the Oilers. The last thing they need this season is for anyone key to get sick.
This game will be a start in determining whether or not Tuesday’s game was a turning point, or just another decent game surrounded by crappy ones. Do it, guys.
“They’ll dress at the expense of Maltby, who’s having his best season in years…”
From what I’ve seen of it, I liked the Eaves/Helm/Maltby line. One of the negatives of having Abdelkader up with the big boys (besides that he needs to develop more and he’ll do that better in GR than he will sitting out every second or third game with Detroit) is that the third and fourth lines are constantly in flux. If they were to send Abby down then they could have some more consistency with their lines, giving Eaves and/or May and/or Helm more opportunity to assert their places with the team. It’s fine for Babcock to say that Helm hasn’t been playing up to the standard he has set, but it’s got to be hard for a kid who is an NHL rookie to play with any consistency while never playing with the same lines from night to night. Put Helm, Eaves and Maltby on a line, then when you’re playing a tougher opponent, swap out Eaves and bring May in. Having Abdelkader playing two of three games is going to screw up his game and confidence the same way that having Meech play every second game of the year -but having him play half those games as a forward- did to him.