Archive for January, 2012

Game Day Notes: @ Calgary

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Update (3:28 PM): More from Khan on the injections Homer got. - Matt

Update (2:43 PM):

Autocorrect fail: it’s “Synvisc“, claims Google. And it means Holmstrom’s body’s falling apart. But that’s no surprise. More info on the stuff here (via).

Apparently, he had a bad reaction to it. - Matt

Update (2:27 PM): Also, Tomas Holmstrom’s out and Mursak’s in. No word yet on why, though I’ve asked both Khan and St. James if it’s a scatch or an injury situation. - Matt

Update (2:11 PM): Roster update:

Thoughts so on Commie. Disappointing, though, about Jimmy. If they can’t start a backup the first game after their starter went to the All Star Game, when will they start him? - Matt

… This is the fourth and final matchup between the Wings and Flames this season. The Flames lead the series 2-1-0, with bookend wins in the three games played so far. The Wings won the middle game in late November.

… The Flames are 5-5-1 in January and 23-21-6 overall. That’s good for 11th in the West. But they’re just three points back of 8th place.

… Before the break, the Flames won two of their last three, but finished on a losing note at home against San Jose a week ago.

… Over the Break, they dealt Brendan Morrison to the Blackhawks, which is pretty good news for tonight, as he has 25 points in 43 career games against the Wings, but less than good news for the Central Division race.

… As George points out, the Calgary media’s putting some pressure on Mike Cammalleri, so watch him tonight.

… All Star Jerome Iginla crossed the 500 goal plateau earlier this month, but it hasn’t led to a real goal outburst, as he’s put the puck in the net just twice in 7 games since. Still, he’s annoying good against the Wings, with 54 points in 59 games, so he’ll be a threat tonight.

… The Flames will be without Derek Smith, David Moss, Alex Tanguay and Curtis Glencross.

… Presumably, Miikka Kiprusoff will start tonight for the Flames.

… The Wings will look to improve upon their 9-3-0 record in January and rebound from their awful showing in Montreal last week.

… And, as highlighted by mLive, the Freep, the News and the Press, the Wings will be looking to get their road record to a more acceptable place. Currently, it stands at 13-14-0.

… The Central Race stands thus: the Wings at 67 points, the Blues at 65, and the Hawks and Predators at 64. Every point counts, especially with St. Louis now getting healthier.

… Thanks to the time difference, there’s no lineup news yet apart from the fact that Lidstrom will be back in, but it’s reasonable to assume Jakub Kindl will be out in favor of Mike Commodore thanks to his awful night in Montreal. And because it was a loss, Jan Mursak may get in over Cory Emmerton.

… There was some discussion of resting Jimmy Howard tonight, so it may be that Ty Conklin will be in net. If so, he needs to start swimming. Enough of this sink crap.

… The Flames are honoring Brad McCrimmon tonight, which is going to be emotional. Just going to their site and seeing the background tribute there is emotional.

… The Wings got their break and time with their families. Tonight they need to get back to business and start making this road troubles stuff right, regardless of who’s in the net.

Keep the lead.

Quote of the Day

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Close second:

See? A throwaway game.

Rest Jimmy?

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I say yes. He only played the traditional one period in the ASG, but unlike everyone else on the team minus Datsyuk, he didn’t get to fully relax this weekend.

Might as well start Conklin against the 11th-ranked team in the West and if he can’t handle it, at least Jimmy got something of a break before heading back to being played all the time. Points are huge for the Wings in this race, but making sure Jimmy doesn’t end up getting burned out is too.

Slow Day

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We’re in the lull between All Star Weekend and the rest of the regular season, so there’s not much going on or to blog about.

Picking up with game day stuff for the matchup with Calgary tomorrow.

Jimmy vs. Pavel

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Brendan Savage wonders which guy’s been the team MVP so far this season: Pavel Datsyuk or Jimmy Howard.

It’s a close one, but I think back to all the nights where Jimmy’s been the Wings’ first, second or third period, or full game, crutch that carried them through to a win. Datsyuk’s shown himself to be the heart of the team and may have overtaken Zetterberg in my future captain shortlist, but Jimmy’s the MVP this year so far.

On That Goalie Race

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It looked like Jonathan Quick and Jimmy Howard weren’t going too hard in their “fastest skater” competition last night. There was a good reason for that.

Glad Jimmy took it easy. It’d be bad enough if he gets injured getting trucked by some opponent crashing the net. Blowing a knee in the Skills Competition would be terrible.

Life After Lidstrom Watch: Ryan Suter Update

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This story broke yesterday, so you’ve probably already seen it. But I thought I’d post a link just in case.

If Suter does make it to free agency, the Wings are going sure to put in some calls, whether or not Nick retires. If Nick does, they’ll have that much more cap space to work with. But even if he doesn’t, they’re in decent shape in that regard. Still, this summer may be a real strong test of the Wings’ ability to draw guys for reasons other than money.