Game Preview: Wild @ Wings

Detroit (49-19-9, 107 pts)
Minnesota (37-32-9, 83 pts)

Minnesota Outlook: The Wild are a bit of a jigsaw when it comes to predicting what you're gonna get out of them. They're second in fewest goals allowed in the league, as I write this San Jose allowed 2-knocking them down to 3rd. So they've allowed 189 goals but have only scored 11 more than they've allowed, but at least they're in the positive range (unlike fellow 8th seed candidates St. Louis, Nashville, & Edmonton). They're 2 pts down for a playoffs spot and are gonna be hungry for the playoffs coming into Hockeytown.

Detroit Outlook: The wings have been a bit on a slide recently (0-3, 5-4-1 last 10), but then again we don't need to win any of these games to keep our playoff hopes afloat. Vancouver/Calgary/Chicago can't catch us for 2 seed and we could finish with the 1 spot and home ice for the duration of the playoffs. Still we very much need to start getting back on the winning path. You can only take it so easy for so long or you're just going to end up hurting yourself for the start of the postseason. I don't know if Rafalski will be back but we sure did miss him in the lineup against the Blues :-/

What to Look for: A relatively low scoring game. From the Wild: Mikko Koivu, Andrew Brunette, Owen Nolan, Marian Gaborik, and the impenetrable Nick Backstrom. From Detroit: Marian Hossa, Johan Franzen, Nick Lidstrom, and Jiri Hudler.

Puck drops at 12:30 PM ET, Game is on NBC! Yay for watching it on a regular tv instead of my laptop!

In Case You Missed It...

Here is Johan Franzen's spectacular goal against the Blues on Thursday night. Unfortunately, it was in a losing effort.

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!!

Oilers and Free Agent Talk

My bad on not posting a follow-up for the Oilers game. I fell asleep at 1-0 Oilers and woke up at a 3-2 final for the Red Wings. Awesome result, I just wish I had seen us storm back and take the win.

Not much going on this week and I haven't posted much. Been busy with school and work and the like.

Nevertheless, I found a good article on the offseason possibilities for the Wings:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090325/SPORTS05/903250433/1048/SPORTS/No+rush+in+signing+Hossa++Franzen

I wish we could keep Hudler, Hossa, and Franzen but it might be impossible.

Flames Down Wings 5-3

The Flames got the best of the Red Wings again, posting 5 goals on 27 shots. The Red Wings put 3 on the board on 33 shots but Miika Kiprusoff was too much.

Dion Phaneuf opened the scoring for the Flames by firing a drop-pass from Daymond Langkow off the tip of Ozzie's glove to give the Flames a 1-0 lead midway through the 1st. Ozzie let in a pretty weak goal to Jamie Lundmark and Langkow got his second assist of the game early in the 2nd period. The Flames got another goal a few minutes later as Mike Camalleri scored a powerplay goal and ended Ozzie's night, bringing in Conklin.

Pavel Datsyuk got the Wings back within 2 with his 30th of the season on a shot from a tough angle, following a rebound given up by Kiprusoff. This is when I kind of fell asleep. Glencross scored for the Flames, making it 4-1, and then Johan Franzen scored (31st) to make it 4-2. Jiri Hudler scored less than two minutes later to make it 4-3. But it wouldn't be enough, the Flames added another goal and another victory, leaving the Red Wings with a bitter taste in their mouth heading into Edmonton.

Player of the game: Pavel Datsyuk

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.

Wings Use 3 Straight to Edge Flyers

Apologies for not writing a follow up from the Flyers game until now. Getting back into the swing of things for school after a week off has been tougher than expected.

Anywho, that game was particularly satisfying if you're a Wings fan. It was one of those "character" games. We could have very easily packed it in but we stuck with and fought back and ultimately got the game tied and then in our favor. Franzen, Zetters, and Datsyuk all scored typical goals for themselves. Datsyuk tricked Biron into thinking he was gonna pass it then fired it over Biron's shoulder. Franzen used his body to position himself perfectly for a Datsyuk pass and top-shelfed it to tie the game. Then Zetterberg showed patience in receiving a pass, waiting for Biron to get in position and then read the weak spot. Ozzie let in two goals but settled down and played well the rest of the game, allowing the offense to get going.

The win put us 3 points ahead of San Jose and 4 ahead of Boston. It was also our third consecutive win and shows be returning to top form following all of the injuries this season. Hopefully I'm right. but only time will tell. We could use this as a big momentum swing heading into Atlanta on Friday.

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.

Game Preview:

Columbus outlook: Columbus has won 4 straight and 6 of their last 10 and currently hold the 6 seed in the West. The 4 straight wins have all come against teams at or above 80 points (Detroit, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago). The last time the Blue Jackets played the Wings, they put 8 goals on the board to Detroit's 2. The Blue Jackets are on a big surge right before the playoffs and are a dangerous matchup for the Wings.

Detroit outlook: Detroit followed up a OT loss to the Flames with a 5-2 manhandling of the Blues. Hopefully we'll be able to continue the good play and win again and likely seal up a playoff spot. The best thing about the 8-2 loss to the Blue Jackets is how Babcock is able to refocus the team for the next time they face off. If we can force Columbus to make mistakes, we easily have superior talent (except for maybe in net) but can only put forth our highest effort when our defense isn't constantly pressured.

What to look for: For Columbus, watch for Rick Nash, RJ Umberger, Mike Commodore, and Chris Mason. For Detroit, watch for Marian Hossa, Tomas Kopecky, Johan Franzen, and Brad Stuart. I don't know how to call this one, I wanna say Wings win but the Blue Jackets are unpredictably good at times, in any case...

GO WINGS!

Puck drops at 5 PM ET,

Game Preview: Flames at Wings

Please keep it up. Hopefully the Wings can string together some more wins as we come down the stretch. Only 14 games remain on the schedule for Detroit and every point matters for home-ice and top seed in the playoffs.

Calgary Outlook: Calgary comes into tonight's game with 3 straight losses and a 6-4 in the last 10 record. However, Calgary is the best team the Wings have played (in the standings) since San Jose on Feb 25. Calgary is however one of the better teams in the league and has been built around goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. The additions of Jordan Leopold and Olli Jokinen at the trade deadline have yet to turn them into an unstoppable force but I think it's only a matter of time.

Detroit Outlook: Detroit looks to win two in a row following the win over the Coyotes in overtime on Tuesday. The Red Wings have won the first two meetings between these two teams and look to lock-up the regular season series. I would expect Ty Conklin to get the start in net tonight at home. He was the winning goalie in both games against the Flames prior to tonight's meeting. The Wings continue to be effective on the powerplay and could get several chances tonight against a Calgary team that gives up a man quite often.

What to Look For: Look for both teams to play a physical game. The Flames are built as a more physical team than the Wings are but lately Detroit hasn't backed down from physical play. The call-up of Aaron Downey has added a little bit more of a physical mentality while still playing puck possession hockey. Calgary will look for a big game from Jarome Iginla, Olli Jokinen, Mike Camalleri, and Miikka Kiprusoff. If Miika is on tonight there's little hope for the Wings but the fact that Calgary takes around 17 penalty minutes per game could play a big part in a Wings win. Detroit will look to Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, and Ty Conklin. I think Holmstrom could be getting back to normal following his injury, and if he gets back to 100%, the rest of the league should be on the lookout.

GO WINGS!

Franzen lifts Wings over Coyotes in OT

Johan Franzen scored his 27th goal of the season in overtime on Tuesday night to end the game with a 3-2 Detroit win. Conklin got the win in goal for the Wings stopping 23 of 25 shots for his 24th win of the year

Valterri Filppula scored his 9th goal of the year and continues to return to his normal offensive production for the Wings. Franzen and Kronwall assisted on the Filppula goal that gave the Wings the early 1-0 lead. Martin Hanzal tied the game late in the 1st period on a scramble in front of Conklin.

The second period saw no goals but several close calls for each team. In the third, the Red Wings capitalized on their only power play opportunity of the game when Brian Rafalski put the puck past Bryzgalov. Shane Doan tied the game with about 9 minutes to play with a shot from the high slot with the help of a screen by Peter Mueller in front of Conklin while the Coyotes were on the powerplay.

Franzen's goal came with under 2 minutes to play in the supplemental period following a faceoff win by Filppula. Filppula got the puck back to Brad Stuart who left it for Franzen. Franzen skated through the middle of the ice and gave himself a more favorable shot and put the puck past Bryzgalov.

It's good to see Franzen and Filppula back to their normal selves after both going through slow periods. Another good thing was to see Tomas Holmstrom back in the line-up after missing 18 games from his hernia injury. Players of the game: Franzen, Filppula. Both had a goal and an assist.

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).