Game Preview: Blues at Wings

Red Wings (48-19-9, 107 pts)
Blues (37-31-9, 83 pts)

Blues Outlook: The Blues are on fire lately. 6-3-1 in their last 10 while pushing for the playoffs. I had previously written them off for playoff contention but they've done everything to prove me wrong. They currently sit one point behind Nashville/Anaheim for 7/8 spot in the Western Conference. They dropped their last contest to the Blackhawks by a score of 3-1 but had won their previous 5 matches. The Blues are a dangerous team down the stretch, with nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Red Wings Outlook: Lately, we've looked really vulnerable. And that's bad, really bad. It seems that either teams are figuring out our defensive scheme or that we're just not playing 100% which is a dangerous trap to fall in heading into the first round of the playoffs. We've gone from being ahead of San Jose to 4 points behind them for top spot in the West/League with a mere 6 games remaining, all against playoff bound teams or teams just points shy. I think the loss of Andreas Lilja has been bigger than people have made it out to be. Although Grand Rapids call up and future fulltime Wing Jonathan Ericsson is a little taller, I think Lilja uses his body more effectively and engages opposing players more often. Hopefully our young and speedy defense can step it up in anticipation of Round 1. Another note for tonight, Brian Rafalski (groin) is listed as out for the game.

What to Look for: A lot of physical play. Longtime bitter rivals only show more aggression and heart when one of their post-season life is on the line. From St. Louis: Brad Boyes, David Perron, Keith Tkachuk, and Chris Mason. From Detroit: Marian Hossa, Dan Cleary, Johan Franzen, and Brad Stuart.

Puck drops at 7:30 PM ET and as always, GO WINGS!!

Wings Blast Thrashers 6-3

The Red Wings got big time production out of its star players as they scored three goals in the third to put the game too far out of the reach of the Thrashers.

Brian Rafalski got the scoring started towards the end of the first as he put a pass from Johan Franzen past Kari Lehtonen for his 10th goal of the year. Datsyuk scored the second goal of the game and his 29th of the year from the top of the faceoff circle on odd man rush with Franzen with 8 minutes left in the 2nd period. Jiri Hudler got the Wings on the board for the second time in the period, just two minutes later on a breakway spawned from Brett Lebda's great length of the ice pass, putting the Wings up 3-0 heading into the final period.

The third period saw both teams trading goals three times. Franzen scored his 30th of the year and a powerplay tally on a backhand shot off of a rebound. The Thrashers would get a powerplay goal of their own as Bryan Little put the Thrashers on the board. Hossa would then score his 36th of the year on a pass from Zetterberg as they stretched the defense horizontally and threw off Lehtonen's positioning. Slava Kozlov scored the next goal for the Thrashers on a slapshot over former teammate Chris Osgood's shoulder for a second Thrashers powerplay goal. Hossa had another breakaway and nearly scored but ended up drawing too many Thrashers players to the boards, allowing a pass to a wide open Dan Cleary in the slot for the 6th Wings goal. The final goal of the game was scored by Colin Stuart but it was too little too late for the Thrashers as the Red Wings put up their 48th win of the season and earned its 105 point.

Ozzie had some outstanding saves and is starting to make me believe that he's just really gearing up for the playoffs. He did let in 3 goals but in my opinion, only one was uncontrollable. And when you get 6 goals a game you can afford to let 3 in I suppose. I really like to see the continuing success that Rafalski has had in Detroit. He's one of the least talked about defensemen in the league for his skill set. He can play as a good of a defensive game as anyone and can also score like a forward on the other end of the ice.

Player of the game: Henrik Zetterberg (4 A), responsible for setting up 4 of the 6 goals, and Johan Franzen (1 G, 2 A)

Other notes: Second straight game the Thrashers have allowed 6 goals. The Red Wings now have 7 players at 50 points or more; Kronwall is 6 away from joining.