Uppers and Downers

No, I'm not talking about recreational drugs.

I'm talking about players being called up and others being sent down.

Monday saw the Wings calling up Aaron Downey and Jonathon Ericsson and sending down Darren Helm and Ville Leino. I can kind of understand the Helm move but Leino? He'd scored 5 goals and added 4 assists in 13 games with the Wings. Maybe it's just temporary but I don't understand it. I know Downey can bring more of a physical playing style than Leino or Helm but physicality doesn't directly put the puck in the net.

I can understand Ericsson being called up. He's been waiting for a while to come back up following his injury and the defense has been suspect at times. The question I have is when does Darren Haydar get a crack at the Wings lineup? 63 points in 61 games is pretty good I'd say.

Time will tell if this is a good or bad move. In my opinion, it was too soon to send Leino back to the AHL but as I said, hopefully its just temporary.

Edit: I previously had Leino at playing 5 games with the Wings. I can't read apparently.

Preview for Kings Game 2/27

Some notes about tonight's game vs. the Kings (26-25-9, 61 pts):
Ozzie is scheduled to return tonight. I don't know whether he'll start or not, considering Conklin's 12 game home winning streak. Jonathan Quick will likely get the start in net for the Kings. Former Red Wing Kyle Quincey comes back to the Joe tonight. Look for Leino to continue to contribute to the offensive production, and also to see how Brad Stuart does in his 2nd game back from his injury. One guy on the Kings I'll be watching is Anze Kopitar. Kopitar has immense talent but doesn't get the deserved respect.

I'm thinking this should be another W for the Wings, but by no means should they be overlooked. The Kings have talent but are just streaky and have questions in net. Wings 4 Kings 2

Other notes: Kirk Maltby will play in his 1000th career game. Maltby won't go into the Hall of Fame most likely but he has been a fixture on the Red Wings roster since '95 and has 4 cups to show for it. He's a huge part of the team even though his stats might not show it. He's a good defensive forward and one of the better penalty killers. The way he plays really wears down the opposing team and he's a big part of the reason for the success of the Wings over the past 11+ years.

Sharks Wings recap

You'd think that teams would learn by now, dont take penalties when you play the Wings.

Hossa put a puck in between Evgeni Nabakov's legs on the Wings first powerplay. Nabokov made a partial stop but it still squirted through. Ville Leino got his 5th goal on a baseball style swing on an airborne puck to put the wings up 2-0 going into the first intermission. I couldn't help but think, how were we out shot 12-7 and still winning? We normally get dominated when we're being outshot but this is different. Our awful penalty killing also pulled through for us and didn't allow any goals in the first period.

Zetterberg's spin-o-rama breakaway shorthanded goal...not much I can say other than just wow. Yay for 12 more years of Zetters!
Ehrhoff got a powerplay goal to bring the Sharks within two.
Zetterberg got another goal on the powerplay as he faked a move behind the net but ended up stuffing the puck in off of Nabokov on a 5-on-3 powerplay and gave the Wings a 4-1 lead they wouldn't relinquish.

Conklin played out of his mind again. Hope this stays the same for the rest of the season.
One of the best parts of the night? Datsyuk, yes Datsyuk, was taking the body all game long. Which is awesome. He's a dwarf compared to the Sharks players but still threw around his body and didnt back down from any physical play. He even drew a penalty on Dan Boyle for slashing after he knocked Boyle down.

Other game notes:
I have found a new player to watch. Well, players.
1st, Ville Leino. Holy crap this guy is just a rookie and he's incredible. He's shown several times his ability to find the net at the right time and can read the play before it happens, something often hard to do in hockey with all of the caroms and deflections. 2nd, Nick Kronwall. Kronwall's becoming one of the better defensemen in the league yet is still relatively unknown. He's known for his big hits in the playoffs last year but he's also become a big time skilled defender for the Red Wings. He's a strong and balanced skater and has displayed his vast knowledge of the game on several occasions throughout the season. No wonder they call him Nick Jr.