Update (1:38 PM): Turns out there won’t be any lineup changes from Thursday tonight. Chris Osgood is confirmed as sick and Howard is the confirmed starter. And Maltby is a somewhat-healthy scratch (he’s “almost 100%”). – Matt

Notes on the Wings’ first meeting with the Ducks this season:

… The Ducks have jumped out out to a tepid 6-8-3, 14th-place start. They’ve lost their last two, including a 3-2 overtime loss in Columbus last night. Prior to that, they dropped a 3-1 decision in New Jersey on Wednesday.

… They did manage to beat the Coyotes a week ago, and to shut out the Predators last Thursday. They’ve been alternating two losses and two wins since October 31st, so if the trend holds, they’re due for the first of two wins.

… Corey Perry leads the Ducks in scoring with 21 ill-gotten points, of which 12 were his own goals. California surfer dude Ryan Getzlaf has … just one goal, but 17 assists to place second in Ducks offense. Teemu Selanne is the only Duck to come close to the double digit mark with 9 goals. Bobby Ryan isn’t all that far back with 7.

… The Bearded captain (will not capitalize that word in relation to him), Scott Niedermeyer, is minus-4, but has dealt the puck out on 10 goals, though he’s managed just one himself.

… Jonas Hiller is the goalie of choice for Carlyle this season, which isn’t surprising given JS “Coldplay” Giguere’s performance lately: 3.24 GAA and .902 save-percentage contrasted with Hiller’s 2.79 GAA and .917 save-percentage.

We should be seeing Hiller tonight since Giguere played in Columbus.

… Saku Koivu is day-to-day with a groin strain and has missed two games. He had 8 points in 15 before going down. Ryan Carter is day-to-day with a bruised foot and has missed just one game. He’d notched just 3 points in 13.

… The Wings will look to win their sixth in seven and their third game in four nights. Their last loss came a week ago in Toronto and broke a three-game win streak they had going. They’ve since picked it up again and have won their last two.

… I haven’t seen anything on the roster for tonight, but you’d think Maltby would have recovered from the flu by now, which would mean Miller’d be the likely scratch. Miller had a strong game against Vancouver, but doesn’t know the system fully yet and that should put him at a disadvantage compared to other guys on the team who might otherwise be scratched.

… It looks like Jimmy Howard will start again, which jives with a Babcock comment I half-caught on the radio Thursday night following the Vancouver game. The theory is further borne out by the Wings’ transaction list in their media notes for the game:

  • 11/12/09 – recalled G Daniel Larsson from Grand Rapids (AHL) on emergency recall
  • 11/13/09 – assigned G Daniel Larsson to Grand Rapids (AHL)
  • 11/14/09 – recalled G Daniel Larsson from Grand Rapids (AHL) on emergency recall

Busy couple days for Larsson. He was on the bench last night in Grand Rapids while McCollum backstopped the Griffins to a 3-2 overtime win.

Howard’s getting his time to shine. Here’s hoping tonight’s not a Leash Night.

It’s a little odd that Osgood apparently hasn’t recovered from the flu yet, don’t you think?

… Tonight should be an interesting one. Both teams have played a lot of hockey in the past few days and should be a little lower on energy than usual. But they do have a history and that has a way of upping the intensity.