I’m defining #1B as one half of a Luongo/Schneider or Rask/Thomas combo, the kind of guy you could be about as comfortable with in the playoffs as you are with Jimmy. A #2 guy is a traditional backup, the kind of guy who spells your #1 guy during the regular season and who charts faceoffs just about no matter what in the playoffs.

Add Joey MacDonald to the mix and you’ve got three ways forward (four if you count Conklin, but who is?).

I see a #1B guy as out of reasonable reach, 1) because who’s trading a starter at the deadline and 2) the cost is sure to be high for those that are available. And I see a #2 guy as relatively pointless: you deal an asset for a guy who  may only be a marginal improvement over Joey MacDonald and he’s still not a viable tool in the playoffs.

Boston and Vancouver get to have that kind of strength in net because it more or less happened organically. The chips didn’t fall that way for the Wings.  So they may  need to go the traditional one horse route for the playoffs, unless they’re willing to get in on a deal that will equivalently diminish another aspect of the team on the off chance that they might need another goaltender in the playoffs.

I say, assuming his promising outing Saturday night doesn’t turn out to be an anomaly, Joey MacDonald may present the best way forward in terms of setting Jimmy up to succeed in the playoffs. If he can prove to be the kind of guy who can spell Howard down the stretch, the Wings are golden.

What they  need is a guy who can take care of Jimmy’s nights off now. And Mac may be that guy.

Update (12:41 PM): Stuart’s missing the skate with the flu, apparently. He’s supposedly probable for tonight. - Matt

… This is the fourth and final game between the Wings and Coyotes this season. The Wings lead the series 3-0, with 5-2, 3-2 (SO), and 3-2 (SO) wins.

… The Coyotes have played four times since we saw them last month and have split that stretch 2-2, alternating wins and losses. They dropped a game to Tampa Bay, won at home against Ottawa, lost at home to the Ducks and notched a home win against the Sharks on Saturday.

… That win put them at 23-21-8 and 54 points, which is good for 12th in the Conference. They’re only four points back of 8th-place Minnesota, however, and are in the beginning of a playoff push.

… The Coyotes are an anemic 11-10-4 at home, which should be a good sign for a Wings team looking to improve its road record.

… George breaks down the relevant media bits and pieces here.

… The Coyotes are still great at staying out of the box, with just 7.8 PIM/game, which is nearly a full minute better than the Wings’ 2nd-place ranking. That the Coyotes stay out of the box is probably good for our blood pressure tonight: fewer failed power plays.

… The Coyotes are relatively healthy, with just Dave Schlemko listed as out.

… Mike Smith is the presumptive starter. Jim Gintonio points out he rebounded from a bad game to come up with 32 saves in Saturday’s win. So, he’s on a bit of an upswing.

… The Wings are coming off a 5-4 SO loss to the Oilers Saturday night and will finish up a four-game road trip with this one. With the Coyotes looking to make a push and the Wings potentially looking to get home, things could be interesting.

… No lineup news yet, but there is something on the goaltending front: the backup job is open.

… Thanks to the losing effort Saturday, it could be that Mike Commodore and Cory Emmerton will be out in favor of Jakub Kindl and Jan Mursak.

… Babcock was very unimpressed with Ty Conklin’s performance in Edmonton, so it’s possible he’ll forego giving him another chance to step up and instead go for Joey MacDonald. We’ll see.

… The Wings don’t have any Central Division competitors active tonight, but they still need points. They weren’t very good Saturday night and have indicated they’d like to be better tonight. They’ve got the ability to back that up, so here’s hoping they do.

Kronwall’s Hit: Kronwall’s hit. Clean, textbook standing a guy up. Perfect.

Bertuzzi’s 2nd: Bertuzzi’s 301st. Made this guy look like a pylon. Beautiful. Now if someone could just make Andy Sutton look like a retired hockey player…

The Game: In summary, this was a classic Red Wings trap game against a lesser opponent. They came out flat and the Oilers took advantage. They gradually improved over the course of the game and were able to mount a successful comeback in the third period, which was slightly off script.

But they wrote that new script into a blown lead in the final minute. So, they got a point that didn’t seem likely after a 1-3 first period, which is great. But.

Conklin: They may have blown any chance they had of relying on Ty Conklin in Howard’s absence. Conklin appears to be a goalie bereft of all confidence and being hung out to dry by teammates that can’t be bothered to play from the first whistle is not going to help.

Neither is his being yanked one period into his brief tenure as emergency starter. I get that in the microcosm of this one game, pulling the goalie is a way of shaking things up and maybe the best choice. But I wonder if it didn’t just put the icing on the Conklin-is-shot cake. We’ll see.

MacDonald: Meanwhile, Joey MacDonald acquitted himself quite well and looks like a goalie that can handle being hung out to dry by his teammates, because he still has some measure of confidence in himself. He kept the game close and made a number of strong saves that boosted my confidence in him, and from what I saw on Twitter, I was not alone.

It would not be surprising at all to read that Babcock is going with Ty Conklin again tomorrow night, but Joey MacDonald probably should be the guy. At least in a test capacity. Conklin has had time and time again opportunities to show he has what it takes to spell Howard with a competent outing, and he’s so fair failed to do that more than about once. Without that background, I’d say it’d be unfair to leap to conclusions on MacDonald after just one game, but it’s hard not to. Joey just looked better.

The Shootout: I was afraid MacDonald would be a bust in the shootout, because he hasn’t looked good in them while in GR, but he showed up pretty well. The Oilers have some real skill, so I’m not going to hold those goals he did allow against him. I will, however, hold Cleary’s attempt against him. What was that, Danny? The Wings are used to winning these things in just a few rounds, so maybe it’s to be expected that when other guys are put on the spot, it won’t turn out well.

Thug Oilers: What a bunch of children. The Kronwall hit elicited the trademark sign of a dumb team, then Smid runs Zetterberg into the boards like a donkey.

The Power Play: Remains pathetic. The Potter/Smid sequence should have been an automatic goal or two, but they came up completely empty-handed. It’s seriously embarrassing.

I’m going to try to make it a policy to stop complaining about missed calls that would have given the Wings a power play, because it’s not like they would have done anything with it anyway.

And I added a new entry to my new site/Twitter glossary. See “PP”. Right?

Breakaway: Helm had a breakaway that he totally Helmed in the first period. Of course.

Where Confidence Meets Arrogance: I tend to think these trap games that we can so easily predict are a sign of an attitude problem. The Wings know they’re better than just about anybody and they know they have the talent to pull victory from the jaws of defeat on short notice. The old “slow start, frantic finish” model we see. So. Often.

I don’t know if last night is specifically a case of that, but another, related angle on this is the fatigue excuse. I say related because I’m starting to wonder if some of these nights where the storyline can be “they’ve played x games in y nights, they’re out of gas” are really nights where the storyline is “they’ve played x games in y nights, so they’re proactively holding back until late because they know they can.” See the difference?

I love a Wings team that’s confident and has swagger. What I don’t love is a growing suspicion that they’ve crossed over to at least a mild form of arrogance that says they don’t have to take anyone but the most skilled opponents seriously. As Babcock himself has pointed out, teams these days are far closer than they’ve probably ever been before. I guess it would be great if the Wings could play like they believe that more often, even against teams as far back in the standings as the Oilers.

Because that “slow start, frantic finish” model? It doesn’t always work.

The Race: The one point put them at 72, which is 4 over Nashville (regulation winners at home vs. St. Louis),  5 over the Blues and 7 over the flagging Blackhawks. They’ve got a buffer and can afford a game like this in terms of The Race, but they need to get their defensive house in order around the current goaltending situation as soon as possible. Meaning, tomorrow night in Phoenix.

And of course Nik had to answer for it with a moronic reaction from the Oilers. And the Wings did nothing with the ensuing power play. Anyway. More on that tomorrow.

Here’s the relevant part, from page 169:

Hartley said the Avs had “information that Hasek was playing with an illegal stick.” Hasek said the information must have come from a stick he gave Hartley earlier in the season—for his son, a young goaltender. While Hartley denied having one of Hasek’s sticks, Roy said he had one of them. But he wouldn’t say when or why he got it. At the All Star Game, perhaps? (author’s emphasis)

So, it’s not quite the story the rumor tells, but interesting nonetheless. I’d just forgotten that part of the book since I haven’t read it in years. My bad. - Matt

Via @chrissampang. I never heard that before. Anyone know if it’s true?

It’ll be interesting to see what doctors in Detroit say. But, still. If there was ever a time for Ty Conklin to shape up, this is it. Helene St. James has this to say to prevent freak-outs, though.

Also, it’s Jimmy’s index finger, not his pinky, apparently.

… The Oilers went 4-7-2 in January, but started February with a bang, defeating the Blackhawks 8-4 at home Thursday night.

… That win was their 20th of the season, but they’ve already lost 31 games (5 of which came in OT/SO). They’re 13th in the West and 12 points out of a playoff spot.

…  Bigger than the fact of the 8-4 score Thursday night was that Sam Gagner tied an Oilers team record for points in a single game. Given the Oilers’ history includes Wayne Gretzky, Paul Coffey and other 80s super-scoring heros, that’s quite a feat. Those points accounted for almost a fourth of his production (30 points) this season.

… The Oilers points leader is Jordan Eberle, who’s notched 20 goals and 30 assists. Taylor Hall follows him with 38 points. Then it’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with 35, Ryan Smyth with 34, and then Gagner. They’ve got some guys who can score, with their top five not far off from the Wings’ top five. Their scoring thins out as you go down the list, however, which puts them at 18th in goals-per-game (2.57).

… Their goals differential is -15 and they’re 20th in goals-against-per-game at 2.82 (compare to the Wings’ goals-per-game of 3.10). But still, their young offensive skill’s enough reason to take them seriously, even if their inexperience has led to more failure than success.

… It looks like they’re going to be fully healthy, as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is scheduled back.

… Devan Dubnyk is the presumed starter for the Oil tonight.

… The Wings are two games into a four game road trip  and are looking for their third win of this swing. They kicked off this post-Break trip with a win over the Flames on Tuesday and followed that up with a win over the Canucks on Thursday.

… They’re now 35-16-1 overall, and working toward improving their road record, which now stands at 15-14-0. Their 71 points is League-leading, and puts them four points over their nearest rival in the Central Division, St. Louis.

… The big news yesterday was the Jimmy Howard injury, which apparently took place here.  He’ll miss at least this game and Monday’s matchup with Phoenix, after which he’ll be reevaluated. He could be back as soon as the next time we see the Oilers: Wednesday. Or not.

… Less important from a team survival standpoint, but more important in just about every other way, was the news yesterday that Patrick Eaves may have a concussion. His jaw is healed but he’s unable to get back in the workout saddle  thanks to symptoms he’s experiencing. Once again, the insidious specter of head injuries rears its ugly head.

… The team had a casual non-practice day of broom ball, so there’s no lineup news yet. Kindl was in Thursday as a means to aid in the Wings’ puck possession game, but that may not be as much of a consideration against the Oilers. Mursak’s speed may help him get in at Emmerton’s expense, though.

… Ty Conklin gets his first chance to demonstrate that he still has something left in the tank while Jimmy’s out. He’ll be backed up by Joey MacDonald.

… The Wings are walking into a trap here if they’re not careful. The Oilers can be a very dangerous team, as Chicago found out the other night, and if the Wings don’t come prepared, it may not end well.

They’ve got a good lead in the Central built up, but the Blues won their first game after the Break last night and seem to be picking up where they left off. Chicago lost in Calgary, hilariously, but they don’t have room to relax. Jimmy, their season-long crutch, is out. It’s time for them to stand more on their own.

But I’m not going to apologize for that reaction and I don’t think anyone should. Jimmy Howard is that important to this team and we all know that. Hence the visceral, overwrought reaction. Anything less than a freakout would have been disappointing. The prospect of a Howard-less team is that horrifying.

Anyway: The game. The Wings dominated statistically and in the scoring chance department, but the margin was much closer in the finishing department. They had, what was it, 5, solo opportunities that were blown thanks to a combination of a sharp Roberto Luongo and bad puck luck/cement hands. On a just night, the Wings win it by a few in regulation. But the Canucks hung in there despite managing just 11 shots through two.

The Canucks: I can see why the rivalry between the Canucks and Blackhawks is so heated. A playoff series between the Wings and this Canucks squad would stoke the fires of hatred to white dwarf levels. Seriously. Those guys are incredibly hateable due to all their stupid antics. Add in their ridiculously expressive and entitled* crowd and you have a recipe for an all-out hate fest.

Zetterberg/Kesler: If we played the Canucks any more than we do, I have to say the battle between those two would be known League-wide. They were chopping at each other all night, and it wasn’t all sweetness and light on Z’s side. Many more encounters and maybe one of them does something he regrets.

Watching it was the final nail in the coffin containing any positive thoughts I ever had for Ryan Kesler. American or not, back off the Bearded Swede, jackass.

Kronwall: I didn’t notice any particularly nasty encounter involving Nik, but the general thrust of the Canucks’ play was petulant, over-large-and-dangerous child. I have to assume the hit had something to do with that.

I guess the Kesler slash at the end of the first would count as a nasty encounter in some books. But it was no worse than that.

Cleary: Sweet goal. More of that, please.

Hudler: Dude’s on fire. I love it.

Miller: Coughed up the puck to set up the Burrows goal and then scored on what must have been his next shift to make it all better.

UnPower Play: The Wings were handed four power plays by the Canucks and took advantage of exactly zero of them. That’s unacceptable. And this is dead-on. I remain far more concerned with the Wings’ inability to make teams pay through special teams than I am with their weakness on the toughness front.

Which Brings Me To: The fights. I assume Lapierre started it with Abdelkader. I just wish Justin had skated away. The fight came right after a Red Wings goal and could have negated the momentum swing. It turned out okay in the end, but Abs has to be smarter than that.

As for the Bertuzzi match, it was underwhelming. But this is a great picture.

The Points: I would have rather the Wings won this one in regulation and in a more emphatic fashion, but they got another win on the road and got two points, which is the important thing. Even better, they did it on the night both Chicago  (to Sam Gagner) and Nashville (to Philly) lost.

They’ve now got six points on St. Louis and Chicago, and five on Nashville. That’s a buffer that will be key with Jimmy out at least two games. They’ve done a great job positioning themselves at the front of the pack in the race. They just need to keep going.

*Shut up. It’s not the same.

Update (12:28 PM): The latest, via Khan. So that’s good. - Matt

Update (10:07 AM): Press release from the team confirms the Joey Mac recall and the Howard right-hand injury. They say he’ll miss at least the next two games, and that he’ll be reevaluated when the team gets back to Detroit on Tuesday.

The two week timeline came from somewhere, but the team’s not making it official yet, at least. - Matt

Update (9:56 AM):

Word is Jimmy Howard has a broken pinkie, should be out about 2 weeks or so…

— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) February 3, 2012

So, it’s not killer (i.e. long-term), if that’s true. The Wings’ schedule over the next two weeks isn’t terrible, either. But there’s this counterpoint (and part two). Yep.

We’ll see if Conklin can rise to the occasion. The Wings can’t afford to fall back much at all as tight as the race is.

Also, George notes it’s his right hand, since he remembers the circumstances leading up to Jimmy’s trip to the bench. - Matt

Following up @aaronward_nhl and news on Jimmy Howard injury. It’s suspected Howard suffered a broken finger.#TSN

— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) February 3, 2012

No press release from the Wings yet or record of the move on the AHL website. But there’s no reason to disbelieve Ward. No confirmation from Detroit media yet. They’re probably still out of action thanks to the time difference.

Jimmy was at the bench in the third period, though at the time it seemed to be an equipment issue. Piet Van Zant was there, however, which is never a good sign even though Jimmy went back to the crease and finished the game.

Ugh. Ugh. Doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Assuming Ward’s report is right, it is possible that it’s not something that’ll keep him out too long. But this is where the Wings complete lack of a capable (thus far) backup could really come back to bite them.

Ugh.