Hossa's Pair Powers Wings Past Sabres

Dear Rest of NHL,
Look out.

Marian Hossa might be getting back on track and getting hot just in time for the playoffs. Hossa tallied goal 39 and 40 tonight in a 4-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres.

Brad Stuart started the scoring for the Wings, ripping a shot past Ryan Miller with Holmstrom screening out front on the powerplay late in the 2nd period. Marian Hossa opened the third period with his 39th goal, a backhand on a rebound from a Lidstrom shot. Midway through the 3rd, Hossa added another on a great pass from Pavel Datsyuk, firing short side past Ryan Miller.

Paul Gaustad got a goal back for the Sabres less than a minute later on a scramble in front of Ozzie's net, a relatively easy goal but a goal none-the-less. Ozzie played well again, stopping 32 of 33 for his 26th W of the year. Lidstrom added an empty netter for his 15th score of the season and secured the 51st win of the year.

I didn't get to watch the game because like many people I don't get Versus, but the highlights on NHL.com showed some incredible saves from Ozzie and some great passing from the Wings. Also, I saw that Ericsson got in a fight but haven't seen the fight yet. Good for him though, use that big body youngin'. You're a big part of the Wings future.

Player of the game: Marian Hossa. No doubt #1 star of the night- 2 G, 1 A, +2. Zetterberg, Holmstrom and Lidstrom are honorable mentions with 2 points each (Z and Holmstrom with 2 A each, Lidstrom with G, A)

Next game is in Detroit on Thursday against the Preds.

Breaking Down the Problem Areas

There have been a lot of reasons lately for me to be skeptical about our chances of repeating as Stanley Cup Champions. So many in fact that I am scared to make a prediction beyond first round. And here are the five reasons why I'm not making that prediction but also an upside to each:

1. Goaltending
2. Defense
3. Penalty Kill
4. Playoff Matchups
   
5. Drive to win

I'll start with goaltending as it seems to be the biggest problem we face by far. We have two very capable goalies in Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin. However, how good are they going to be when the playoffs hit? I know I know, Ozzie did incredible in the playoffs last year but can he do it again? I hope so. Last season, Ozzie and Dom combined to win the Jennings Trophy for least goals allowed. When one would struggle, you could count on the other coming in to play lights out, no goals allowed hockey. Nine times last year, following a loss by Hasek/Osgood, the other goalie came in the next game and got a win. I know that's a very circumstantial stat but it does show the effectiveness that they had as a duo. Now I'm not writing off the Conklin and Osgood duo as one inferior to Hasek/Osgood, but somehow we've seen a worse performance. Osgood is playing well but at times he has let in goals that he knows there should be no excuse for him pulling the puck out of the net. Conklin, on the other hand looks like the seasoned vet and in fewer games than Ozzie he has one more win. Our goaltending though, as many around the league have noted, is not what it needs to be to repeat. The good part of this though? Osgood can catch fire at anytime and so can Conklin. Given the healthy competition for starting goalie in the playoffs, I think both of these guys will step up their game for the run to Stanley.

On to the enigma of the year, our defense. I don't know what has changed since last year but for whatever reason we are not the same team defensively. Last year, we gave up a league low 184 goals. This year? 230. That's 46 more than a year ago and there are still games to play. We've gone from +73 goal differential to +53.Granted a lot of that is probably Hasek/Osgood in net but the defense has been very questionable at times this year. It certainly does not look like the same defense as last year that had 2-3 Hall of Famers on it, yet its the same lineup. Maybe Babcock changed the way the players are matching up with opposing forwards or maybe teams around the league have just become wise to the Wings' ways. Or maybe it's just a half-hearted effort. I don't know the reason really and I don't know enough to break down tape other than the fact that our defenders are simply just out of position a lot of the time. I've also noticed a lack of blocking shooting and passing lanes this year in comparison to last year. Our defense is suspect, and teams are starting to realize that. They're finding the creases in our back line and finding ways to get to the goal. The good news? Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski (having his best offensive season), and Brad Stuart are continuing to play well. Kronwall is still evolving as a player and I think he's our next Lidstrom (hence his nickname Nick Jr.). He shows excellent knowledge of the game,shows great positioning, has offensive skills that are growing with time, and as every team that faces him will tell you, he can hit with the best of them. Brett Lebda, Derek Meech, Andreas Lilja, and Jonathan Ericcson are all also big parts of our defense and will play a big role in the playoff run. Lebda contributed big in the postseason last year and will likely need to step up in the absence of Lilja. Also, its a good thing our offense is the most productive in the league.

Guh. The penalty kill this year is awful, and I don't know why. Here's the thing. Last year, we took 933 penalty minutes, 2nd fewest in the league and had a 84% (8th) kill success rate. This year, we've taken 765, 2nd fewest in the league but have only a 77% (26th) success rate. It doesn't make much sense to me as to why we've had a dropoff in penalty killing ability with 160 less minutes than last year.The weird thing is that percentage of total goals allowed that are powerplay goals allowed are the same this year and last year at 30%. So it still makes me wonder what's going on. Maybe it's just who is taking the penalties that makes our PK worse this year. Granted we didn't have him last year but Marian Hossa is a good penalty killer but his PIMs have nearly doubled from last year. I still can't figure out why we're so bad on the PK but the good news? We have the best powerplay in the league. So I guess you have to give a little to gain a lot.

The fourth thing is who could be matched up against in the first round of the playoffs. Most likely the Blue Jackets won't fall down to the seventh/eighth seed and I hope that they don't. I don't want to play against Steve Mason&Co. in round one, they've played us really well this year and could easily take the series. Another possibility is the Anaheim Ducks, which I also don't like. Anytime you have to face JS Giguere in the first round, you're gonna be frustrated y the end of the series because he can transform into a brick wall in the playoffs. A third potential matchup is intra-division rival Nashville. This would be a rematch of last year's opening round. Yet another team I don't want to face. The 6'5" Pekka Rinne has become a formidable force in net and the Preds are a physical team that knows how to play us and ruffle our feathers, thanks to Barry Trotz. A fourth potential matchup would be the Minnesota Wild. I do not like this matchup either because of their goaltending star Nicklas Backstrom. The Wild are weak in many areas so this is one of the few that I would not feel too uncomfortable with. The last and very likely first round matchup is with the St. Louis Blues. Although they recently made our defense look like a joke last time out, we're 5-1-0 against them this year and Chris Mason has some very exploitable flaws in his game. The good news? All of my fears for playoff matchups are based on goaltending, but we score the most goals in the league.

The fifth worry that I have is probably the one that I need to worry the least about. It's just hard to envision at times how some of our players will have the same drive and motivation that they did last year. Except for two players (Hossa, Conklin) all of the current roster had their name etched into the Cup last year. There've been times this year that I've questioned the drive of the team but in the end I think it comes down to professionalism and passion for success. Every player has put in their heart and soul and I think their passion is only going to increase as the Finals draw closer and closer. I think Hossa and Conklin will help contribute to this having been on the losing end of it last year after coming so far.

Don't get me wrong. I know teams around the league would kill to have the problems that we have but they are still problems nontheless. But coming off a Stanley Cup win and signing one of the most dominant offensive forces in the offseason in Marian Hossa, expectations are only for excellence and another banner in the rafters, anything short would be a failure in a city that's seen a little too much of it lately.

Hossa's Late Goal Lifts Wings

Marian Hossa once again proved his worth as he scored with 55 seconds left in a tied game to put the Red Wings up 3-2. The goal sealed the deal for the 50th win of the season and a much needed win following three straight L's.

Jiri Hudler opened the scoring for the Wings at 11:21 of the 1st with a one time shot past Backstrom on a pass from Zetterberg. Hudler showed his great sense of rink awareness by positioning himself in the low slot and waiting for Zetterberg to make a play to him. It was his 23rd of the season.

Pavel Datsyuk added another goal for the Wings, his 32nd, on an excellent play. Pavs outwaited Backstrom while skating across the front of the goalmouth and backhanded one top-shelf at the last moment, putting the Wings up 2-0. The Wings would not escape the first unscathed though as a failed clearing attempt by Chris Osgood landed right on the stick of enforcer Cal Clutterbuck. Clutterbuck, who leads the league in hits, showed his quick thinking and fired the puck on net while Osgood was still in motion back to the crease, 2-1 Wings after 1.

Marian Gaborik tied the game late in the second period on a scramble in front of Ozzie's crease. Bodies were everywhere but Gaborik somehow squeaked the puck through the mess and made it 2-2 going into the final period.

Enter Marian Hossa. Hossa had 5 shots on goal during the game and added an assist on Pavel's goal. That wasn't enough for him though and he showed why he's the $7M man. Datsyuk passed to Holmstrom who brought it into the offensive zone and dropped it off to Hossa. Marian wasted no time snapping a shot past Backstrom for his 38th of the year and the late Detroit lead.

The Wings outshot the Wild 44-23 and Osgood stopped 21 for his 25th win of the year. Osgood made some great saves and maybe it came by way of extra confidence after Babcock named him the starter for the playoffs.Both teams stayed out of the box, only 8 total minutes during the game.

Player of the game: I'll have to give this to Datysuk and Hossa. Both had incredible goals and an assist each. Hossa with the slight edge for his +2. Other candidates are Hudler and Zetterberg, who registered 9 shots on goal and an assist.

Other notes: It was good to see Chris Chelios (or as I affectionately call him-Methuselah) playing and skating so well before the playoffs. He will be needed big time in the run to the Cup with Lilja being injured and Rafalski having some problems.

Game Preview: Wings at Flames

Red Wings (48-15-9 105 pts)
Flames (41-24-6 88 pts)

Flames outlook: The Flames enter tonight's game on a bit of a skid, losing 6 of 10 and seeing their lead over the Canucks rapidly diminishing. Kiprusoff hasn't been exactly what he has been in the past but is still one of the best in the league and can see a rise in productivity with Phaneuf and Leopold anchoring the defense.

Red Wings outlook: The Wings are red hot as of late, winning 4 straight and 7 of 10. Osgood has been playing exceptionally well lately and has looked like the same goalie that won the Stanley Cup last year. Last time out against Calgary, Detroit lost 6-5 in a shootout after blowing a lead. I'd expect Babcock would have these guys refocused and ready to go and get that one back, especially following a break since Friday's game in Atlanta.

What to look for: Either a high scoring slugfest or a very sound defensive game by both teams. Both teams have the offensive capabilities to make it a slugfest but also have the goalies and defense to make it a 1-0 game. From Calgary: Olli Jokinen, Jarome Iginla, Mike Camalleri, and Dion Phaneuf (unfortunately). From Detroit: Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, and Nick Lidstrom.

Game starts at 9:30 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.

Blue Jackets blanked by Osgood

How do you play a team that previously beat you 8-2? Well, how about 4-0.

Marian Hossa scored the first goal of the game when he followed up his own shot and somehow put the puck past Columbus goalie Chris Mason. Hossa's goal was his 35th of the year and his first since returning from injury. Niklas Kronwall made it 2-0 with a powerplay goal midway through the 1st period, tallying his 4th goal and 43rd point of the year.

Mikael Samuelsson scored his 18th of the year on a two-on-one breakout during the 2nd period, snapping a shot over Mason's shoulder to give the Wings a 3-0 lead. Johan Franzen scored his 28th of the year, and put the game out of reach in the process, on a great individual effort deking out Mason.

The best part of the game was the way Osgood played in net. He stopped all 23 Columbus shots and had a few spectacular saves. This was big for him following his last outing against Columbus in which he surrended 7 of the 8 goals, on 23 shots as well. Hopefully he's getting in shape for the playoffs.

Player of the game: Well I'm tempted to go with Franzen and Kronwall who had a goal and an assist each but am gonna have to give it to Ozzie.

Next game is Tuesday against the Flyers at 7:30 PM ET on Versus.