Brief notes on the Wings’ first Grade A test of the season.
… San Jose has jumped out to an 11-4-1 start and are currently riding a six-game win streak. Their 23 points is good for second in the West and third in the League.
… They held off the Blue Jackets last night for a 3-2 win in overtime, so they’re not fresh.
… Rob Blake was injured during the game in Columbus and didn’t finish. It’s not looking like he’ll play, as Elliotte Friedman’s tweeted: “Rob Blake in a sling today.”
… Dany Heatley, the Sharks’ big off-season acquisition, has ten goals and 18 points in 16 games. Not exactly 70 goal pace.
… Nabokov played last night, so there’s a chance he won’t play tonight. Given how heavily the Sharks rely on him, though, I would be surprised to see Thomas Greiss in net.
… The Wings will look to string three wins together for the first time this season. They ended a pretty disastrous road trip with a win in Calgary and then followed that up with a home win over Boston on Tuesday.
… A win tonight would put the 6-4-3 Wings at the real .500 mark. Despite this slow start, they remain only two points behind Chicago for the Central Division.
… Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski will return to the lineup tonight after missing sitting out Tuesday night with the flu. Ericsson also missed Saturday’s game in Calgary.
… Derek Meech will exit the lineup for the return of Ericsson and Janik, who was called up in Rafalski’s absence, has been returned to Grand Rapids.
… May remains out with the eye injury Williams gave him Saturday night. As result, the forward corps will remain the same, with a minor reshuffling: Leino will return to the fourth line after a brief promotion to the third.
Evidently, that move during the Boston game was actually to add Draper’s speed to a slow fourth line. But Leino’s underwhelming play against the Bruins has Babcock less worried about fourth line speed and more concerned with sending a message to the Finn. Unfortunately, he can’t scratch him again.
… Chris Osgood will get his third straight start.
… Although the Sharks won’t be rested tonight, there’s no denying they’ll be a stiff test for the Wings. The Sharks are nothing if not regular season specialists and their six-game win streak is nothing to sneer at. The Wings will need to be at their best tonight. No partial effort will suffice.