Game Preview: Wings @ Sabres

Red Wings (50-19-9, 109 pts)
Sabres (38-31-9, 84 pts)

Coming off a big win at the Joe, the Wings look to make it two in a row against a Buffalo team fighting for a playoff berth down the stretch.

Sabres outlook: Buffalo is in need of a win if it wants to stay alive for a chance at the post season. The Sabres have been treading water lately at 4-4-2 over their last 10 and need to win out to ensure their own destiny. The team has lacked big name star power but still finds a way to get it done, thanks in large part to Ryan Miller minding the goal. The problem with the Sabres winning out? The schedule is as follows: Wings, Maple Leafs, Canes, Bruins. Only one of those is one that they're expected to win.

Red Wings outlook: Detroit is coming off a big win on the stick of Marian Hossa late in the third period against the Wild. Not much else you could ask for out of a player like him than to come through when its needed the most. Anyway, the Wings have four games left before the season ends and need all four to win the Conference most likely. San Jose has three games left and all three are against sub .500 teams so the President's Trophy and Western Conference title looks out of reach. Nevertheless, we need to win as many as possible to get ourselves on a roll for an opening round bout with a division rival most likely.

What to look for: The Sabres have a mediocre home record while the Wings have one of the league's best road records. Look for Detroit to tighten up it's defense but the Sabres could be able to stretch the Wings with their speed. From Buffalo: Derek Roy, Craig Rivet, Tomas Vanek, and Ryan Miller. From Detroit: I'm going with underdogs, Val Filppula, Tomas Kopecky (if he plays), and Brett Lebda. Okay...and Henrik Zetterberg.


Puck drops at 7 PM ET and the game can be seen on Versus, if you have it. GO WINGS!

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,

Wings Topple Blues 5-2 with 3 Quick Goals

This was good win following the loss to Calgary in overtime. Osgood played well in net for the Wings, stopping 30 of 32 shots.

TJ Oshie put the Blues on the board first late in the 1st period. Then, the Red Wings opened the floodgates. Datsyuk, Kopecky, and Lebda all scored within 46 seconds to put the Wings from 0-1 to 3-1 in a matter of seconds in front of the St. Louis fans. Woywitka scored for the Blues to bring the game within one but Datsyuk added his second goal of the game with only 34 seconds left in the second period to put the Wings ahead 4-2 going into the final period.

Zetterberg added the final goal of the game on an empty net shot, sealing the deal for the Wings.
Hossa played 15+ minutes, which is good following his neck injury that occured from the last game against the Blues. Detroit was outshot (which is a rarity) but still managed to win big.

The next game is tomorrow against Columbus at 5pm

Player of the game: Pavel Datsyuk 2 goals, +2

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.

Kings Wings Recap and Preds Preview

Kirk Maltby got a win in his 1000th game in the NHL. Both goalies played pretty well. Quick had some impressive saves. At times Ozzie looked out of position but that's kind of expected after any time out of action. He did make some good saves though. Derek Meech scored the first goal of the game on a rebound/flurry of rebounds in front of the net. Leino got an assist which made me happy since he's becoming one of my favorite players to watch. Meech is looking like he's going to be a big part of the future of the Wings too. Another guy that will be pretty big in the future plans also scored, Tomas Kopecky. He's a bigger guy than most of the other Wings but has a lot of raw talent that could make him one of the better players in the league in a few years.

Tonight's game is a big one...not that any game is insignificant...its just that this comes against a division rival. The Predators come into tonight's game with 3 straight wins. I think if we can control the puck we can win. Nashville has a tendency to get a little aggressive (in a bad way) when they are not controlling the puck. They take bad penalties which leads to powerplays for the Wings...which can be devastating. Earlier in the year the Preds surrendered 5 powerplay goals against us. However, they are a good PK team despite that last number so a Wings powerplay won't necessarily bury them.
I think the key to today's game is the goalies. I know thats pretty easy to say for any game but if Osgood/Conklin has a bad game, the Preds can win. Rinne has the better record of the two Nashville goalies and I think its not by chance but rather his skill. He's a quick mover and has a good glovehand. I say Wings 3 Preds 2