So I didn't watch last

So I didn't watch last night's game. But from the constant text messages I got, I know we got spanked again. 8-2. Very disappointing.

Around the League

Many teams saw the results of their trade deadline deals, some good, some bad.

• Phoenix defeated Boston 2-1. Scottie Upshall scoring a goal in his debut with the Coyotes.
• Calgary got big returns out of its trade deadline deals as Jokinen and Leopold scored 3 of the Calgary goals in a 5-1 win over the Flyers. Jokinen scored 2 and Leopold 1
• Washington continued its slide and lost to the Maple Leafs 2-1, Gerber winning his Leafs debut.
• The Penguins continued to improve as they beat the Panthers 4-1 in Crosby's return to the line-up
• The Sharks lost to Minnesota 4-3 in overtime to gain a point and tie the Wings for 1st place in the league.
  

Wings Avalanche Summary

Alright, I'll be honest. I didn't exactly watch all of tonight's game, but I did catch a good portion of it.

John Michael Liles got the scoring going in the 1st period as he put the Avs on the board for an early 1 goal lead. Filppula scored his 2nd goal in as many games to tie the game up. Johan Franzen scored his 26th goal of the year in the 2nd period to put the Wings up. Draper beat Raycroft for his 7th goal of the year, giving the Wings a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd.

The Avs would come back and play better hockey in the 3rd and had 2 consecutive almost goals. One came on a puck that beat Conklin but Franzen prevented from crossing the goalline. The second chance came soon after that on a shot off the post. The Avs put a goal on the board late in the 3rd as Milan Hejduk beat Conklin with Raycroft pulled for the extra man. Fortunately the Avs were unable to put another one in and the Wings earned their first, and only, win of the regular season against Colorado.

Once again, the Detroit puck control limited the chances that the Avalanche got. Both teams played well disciplined hockey (only 6 total penalty minutes) but still had physical play. The Wings outshot the Avalanche 30-27 and put the pressure on the Leopold-less Avalanche defense. Game MVP: Filppula for getting his 2nd goal in 2 games, getting him going could mean trouble for the opposition.

The next game for Detroit is a home game Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The win also put the Wings in first place in the league (for now).

Terrifying article

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/columnists/bill_lankhof/2009/02/03/8243026-sun.html

Avalanche Preview

Detroit comes into tonight's game after a solid 5-0 win after last night's win. With a win tonight the Wings could jump the idle Sharks and Bruins to go to 1st in the League in points. On the other end of the spectrum in the Western Conference lies tonight's opponent, the Colorado Avalanche.

Colorado outlook: Colorado recently lost to the NHL worst Islanders and things don't look to be much better after being sellers at the trade deadline; sending Jordan Leopold, one of their better defenders to Calgary for 2 players. The Avs have no clear cut starter in goal as each have double digit losses and less than 20 wins, probably more of a case of who has the hotter hand of late. The good news for the Avs? They've won all three contests against us this year and look to sweep tonight.

Detroit outlook: The Wings lost one of their offensive stars for an unknown amount of time last night as Marian Hossa crashed head first into the boards, he's currently listed as day-to-day. The good news? The Avs have lost 5 straight games and 7 of their last 10. This could be a "trap game" for the Wings though following a big and physical win last night. Detroit needs to play its style of hockey: using puck control and superb passing to wear down the opposing team.

What to look for: Look for Filppula to try and get back in the groove again following his 19 game goal drought. Babcock hasn't said if Ozzie or Conklin will start, but both goalies are still looking to erase the memory of the 8-0 game. How the Avs defense handles the absence of Leopold. How the Wings offense deals without Hossa (again)

Puck drops at 9 PM Eastern Time, or 5 AM Moscow time.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch all of the game. Virginia Tech plays UNC in basketball tonight and I gotta go out and support my Hokies! But, as always, GO WINGS!

Trade Deadline Deals

• Ottawa gets G Pascal Leclaire & 2nd round draft pick from Columbus in exchange for C Antoine Vermette
• Penguins send D Danny Richmond to Blues for D Andy Wozniewski
• Sabres get G Mikael Tellqvist from Phoenix for 4th round pick in 2010
• Boston picks up D Steve Montador from Anaheim for F Petteri Nokelainen
• Calgary sends D Lawrence Nycholat, D Ryan Wilson,& 2009 second-round pick to Colorado for D Jordan Leopold
• Calgary acquires C Olli Jokinen & 2009 3rd rd. pick from Phoenix for F Matthew Lombardi, F Brandon Prust, & 2009 first-round pick, the first real "blockbuster" of the day
• Boston makes another move and gets F Mark Recchi & 2010 second-round pick from Tampa Bay for D Matt Lashoff, F Martins Karsums
• Toronto sends C Nik Antropov to the NY Rangers for a 2nd round pick and a conditional pick
  
• The Florida Panthers add RW Chris Neil to their line up from Ottawa
• Philly traded RW Scottie Upshall to Phoenix for LW Daniel Carcillo
• Phoenix sent D Derek Morris to the NY Rangers for F Petr Prucha, F Nigel Dawes, and D Dimitri Kalinin
  
• The Maple Leafs sent C Dom Moore to the Sabres for a round draft pick
• Atlanta trades F Erik Christensen to Anaheim for Eric O'Dell
• Sharks get F Travis Moen & D Kent Huskins from Anaheim for F Nick Bonino, G Timo Pielmeier and a conditional draft pick
• Three way trade saw the following: Edmonton got F Patrick O'Sullivan, Carolina got RW Erik Cole (again), and LA got RW Justin Williams.
• Chicago go C Sammy Pahlsson from Anaheim for D James Wisniewski and another player/draft pick to be named
• Philly gets D Kyle McLaren from San Jose for a 6th round pick
• Toronto acquires G Olaf Kolzig, D Jamie Heward, D Andy Rogers, & a 4th round pick from Tampa Bay for D Richard Petiot
  

Wings Blues Summary

Big rebound game tonight as Detroit blanked St. Louis 5-0 in a game completely controlled by the Wings. The game was a physical battle from the drop of the puck but the Wings didn't back down and dished out a lot of the punishment as well.

The game got off to an ominous start with Hossa losing his balance following a shot and a small push from a Roman Polak. I don't really think a penalty should have been called on Polak but I could also see how one was called. Hossa was on the ice for way too long and I dont like how he grabbed his neck immediately, especially coming off of a neck injury. Good knews is he was moving his arms and legs and hopefully it's nothing too serious. More updates on his status as they become available.

Then Aaron Downey showed why he was called up, and I take back all the...well they weren't bad things at all really...so I guess what I'm saying is yay for Aaron Downey.

I don't think there's a clear winner hear but both had awesome punches. Also of note, Youtube users are ridiculously fast. This was like 40 minutes after it happened. I also forgot that Downey was the guy that did this.

Kopecky put the Wings on the board in the 1st period when he picked up a rebound and deked Chris Mason to the side and put the puck on the empty side. The Wings killed off a 4 minute powerplay which was huge for the game momentum and oh yeah, Kopecky's goal came during it. Not only did we kill off all of the penalties tonight, we got the shorthanded goal. Despite the much criticized play of the PK units, you gotta admit it has certainly gotten better recently.

Zetterberg put another goal on the board in the 2nd on guess what? you got it! the powerplay! On a big mess in front of the goal, he slammed it in between Mason and the post.

Kopecky got another point on a backhand shot that Draper deflected past Mason in the 3rd. Kronwall blasted a puck off the glove of Mason and into the net for a second powerplay goal of the night. Mason had a beat on the puck but somehow it hit off the top of his glove and slowly flipped behind him into the net.

The Wings took advantage of a 5-on-3 and controlled the puck for 2 full minutes. Filppula scored his first goal in 19 games on a pass in front of the crease. Fil's goal wasn't technically a powerplay goal, coming 1 second after the two penalties expired, but the two Blues players were too far away to do anything about it.

Kopecky finished the game with 1 G & 2 A. Osgood got a shut out, stopping all 22 shots; which is big following the 8-0 drubbing at the hands of the Predators (although he only allowed 4 of those).

This was a good game following such a horrible one in Nashville. It showed that we're not afraid of taking the body and that we're still able to be productive offensively while doing so. We alos held true to our MO of puck control and it proved to be the main reason we won the game. We put a lot of pressure on their players and were able to force bad passes all night long. In short, we got back to playing Red Wings hockey

Next game is tomorrow at 9 PM ET against the Avalanche.

More Trade Rumblings And Transactions

• Penguins released Miroslav Satan. Satan had an unexpectedly poor season up to this point and this frees up cap space for any trades or offseason moves. Satan only had 17 goals, 19 assists which really wasnt much of a drop-off from last year's numbers. It'll be interesting to see who signs him
• Probably the bigger story is the Rangers signing Sean Avery. Avery had been suspended following his now notorious comments about his ex-girlfriends dating other NHLers. Look, I know what he said was pretty bad but I think people take him way too seriously. I wonder how he'll fit in with the Rangers and if he'll be able to contribute after so much time out of the league
• Jay Bouwmeester could be headed to the Flyers before the deadline, but there are also several other teams supposedly in the hunt for the Panthers player.
  
• The Pronger rumors continue to heat up and noone really knows where he'll land. Personally, I could care less. As long as he goes to the Eastern Conference, out of my sight, I'll be fine. But it looks like he'll land back in St. Louis, of course.
  

Gaborik on the move?

Might the Minnesota Wild be putting Marian Gaborik on the trade block? Gaborik is recovering from hip surgery and is close to coming back. But by the time he returns he might not be wearing a Wild jersey. Gaborik's a free agent at the end of the year and the Wild could be looking at cashing in off of his current contract by trading him away.

Any team that takes Gaborik would putting themselves in a situation for a huge loss conisdering he's only played 6 games this year, might not be 100% when he returns, they'd obviously have to give up something of value (draft pick or young star), and he might not resign with that team in the offseason. All of these factors make the trading of Gaborik unlikely but I wouldn't be surprised if a Pittsburgh, Buffalo or Dallas tries to pick him up.

Backstrom Re-signs with Wild

Some big news out of Minnesota as Niklas Backstrom re-signed with the Wild for four more years at a total of $24 mil. This ended a lot of trade speculation around the league about him going to the Caps most likely. Backstrom's one of those goalies that you can build a team around, like Kiprusoff, so the Wild are good shape for the next few years and could make big time statements in the league.

That also ends my very unlikely dream trade for the Wings at the deadline. Eh oh well.

Blues Preview

This is an important game. Not so much that we need the wins, although we do if we want to catch San Jose and Boston for home ice throughout playoffs. But this is an important game to see how we come back following the demoralizing Nashville loss. In a game in which we were completely and totally dominated and nothing went right unless you were wearing blue, we definitely did not look like the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

The good news? We come into the game with the Blues with a 3-0 season record against them. Although that record is a little misleading. Two of those three wins were in a shootout. And this game is a road game, where we've struggled considerably more than at home. The Blues are also 4-1 in their last 5 and the 1 loss being in overtime. Once again I think puck control will be a big factor. If we can control the game from the onset and keep putting pressure on the Blues early and often we can win this one. Another key is to see how Ozzie or Conklin (whoever gets the start) bounces back. My guess is Ozzie gets the start and the Wings come out physical after being pushed around last game. We should win this one anyway, but I'm not guaranteeing anything after that Nashville game! Puck drops at 8:30 ET or 2:30AM Sweden time.

Other big games tonight:
Canes/Caps
Bruins/Flyers
Ducks/Hawks

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.

The Trade Deadline Approacheth

So the trade deadline is less than two days away and once again it doesn't look like the Wings need to make any moves. This is a good and bad thing. The good news is that we are able to build such a successful team through the draft and free agency and just players that have stayed for so long (ie Maltby, Draper, Lidstrom, etc.) The bad news is we could miss out on some good chances for players that will be UFAs at season end.

Ken Holland is probably the best GM in the NHL and possibly in all of sports. That's why he was able to bring Brad Stuart in last year for 2 draft picks. Stuart was a big part of the Wings Cup win last June. So the question of who is the next to come to Hockeytown? Will the Wings even make a move for a player down the stretch? Here's what Holland had to say about it:

"I've had some teams call," Holland told The News. "We don't have a lot of cap space, if any, really. Most trades we're going to look at would have to be cap dollar in, cap dollar out."

If you ask me, I don't think anyone needs to be brought in. It makes sense too. We don't have a lot of cap space and if we want to be able to resign Hossa and/or Franzen in the offseason, it would be beneficial to keep things the way they are.

There've been speculations that Holland would add Ian Laperierre from the Avalanche. I know Laperierre brings some physicality to the line-up but we already have some guys that can do that (Kopecky, Maltby, Draper) and DMc is back with the Griffins making rehab starts. I just don't like the fact that we'd most likely be giving up some of our young talent in turn for Laperierre. There've also been some reports of the Wings being interested in Kari Lehtonen, the Thrashers goalie, but most of that has seemed to die down.

The move I would like to see be made? Reel in Backstrom from the Wild. I know this wouldn't happen, considering he's a free agent at the end of the year and we'd be getting rid of either Ozzie or Conklin but Backstrom is playing pretty good right now, and that's a big understatement.

In the end, don't expect too much from the Wings. But then again Holland could show his genius.

League scores and notes

Marty Brodeur continues to improve upon his return from injury as the Devils shut-out the Flyers 3-0. Brodeur had an incredible save and earned his 100th career shut-out, putting him just three behind the legendary Terry Sawchuck.

The Panthers roughed up the Caps 6-2, Ovechkin got his 46th goal in the losing effort. Pittsburgh beat Dallas 4-1, Malkin getting 3 more points to put himself 10 points ahead of Ovie. And apparently noone played goalie for either team in the Flames/Lightning game, as the Lightning outscored the Flames in a 8-6 win, jeeze.

Other news: Steve Ott gets suspended without pay for this. Yeah, I know he was checking Niedemayer from behind at the ened of the game, probably could have done with out that. But the number of Ducks, including Giguere's testicularly aimed slash, didn't land a single one of them a suspension. If you look at the video, Pronger has his gloves off, which means he should be charged with fighting but won't be. And Moen already had Ott within his grasp so I don't know how Ott is the only one to get suspended with all the other players. Don't get me wrong, I hate both of these teams with a passion but what the crap?

Edit: Apparently Ott tried to gouge Moen's eye, so yeah he deserved it. My bad.

...what happened?

8-0.
What the you know what?!

How do you outshoot the opposition 30-23 and have 0 goals to show for your own effort and 8 to show for theirs? I'm not exactly ready to completely pin this one on Osgood/Conklin (both played last night) but some of it was their fault. Conklin had trouble controlling rebounds and that lead to a few of the Nashville goals. Osgood replaced Conklin in the first period and didn't do all that much better. The Predators also benefited from some odd bounces and just good luck on some bad turnovers by the Wings.

The thing that's so bad about this loss is that it was completely dominated by the Predators. They out hustled the Wings all night long and seemingly did everything at will. My pregame prediction came true, no not that we'd win. That if we controlled the puck we'd win, and we didn't control it and clearly lost. Hopefully this was just "one of those nights" for the Wings where they were just off and not any type of indication of things on the way down.

To make things even worse, Andreas Lilja got his ass beat by Shea Weber. It was just not the Wings night. Next game is on Tuesday against the Blues