The injury list is shrinking! Jason Williams returns tonight, which should provide a bit of an offensive boost. He’ll skate on the 2nd line with Todd Bertuzzi and Valtteri Filppula. Drew Miller will drop to the 4th line to take Justin Abdelkader’s place, as he’s been sent down to Grand Rapids. The Wings will skate in warm-ups with 13 forwards and 7 defensemen. Mike Babcock will decide whether Ville Leino or Brad May will be scratched at forward and whether Derek Meech or Brett Lebda will be scratched on defense. Jimmy Howard gets the start on goal.
The Wings enter tonight in 9th place in the Western Conference, just 1 point behind Calgary. A win tonight will put the Wings back in 8th place. A win in regulation tonight will see the Wings tied in points with Nashville, as well. The Predators have played 1 less game than the Wings, so with a win tonight for Detroit, Nashville will still be in 7th. I know I’ve said it a million times, but this game is huge.
Detroit Red Wings
Forwards:
Henrik Zetterberg – Pavel Datsyuk – Dan Cleary
Todd Bertuzzi – Valtteri Filppula – Jason Williams
Kris Draper – Darren Helm – Patrick Eaves
Brad May – Drew Miller – Kirk Maltby
Defense:
Nicklas Lidstrom – Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall – Brad Stuart
Brett Lebda – Jonathan “Big Rig” Ericsson
Starting Goalie: Jimmy Howard
Injuries: Andreas Lilja, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom
Nashville Predators
Forwards:
Steve Sullivan – Jason Arnott – Patric Hornqvist
Jerred Smithson – David Legwand – Martin Erat
Ryan Jones – Cal O’Reilly – J.P. Dumont
Andreas Thuresson – Nick Spaling – Jordin Tootoo
Defense:
Ryan Suter – Shea Weber
Dan Hamhuis – Kevin Klein
Francis Bouillon – Cody Franson
Starting Goalie: Dan Ellis
Injuries: Wade Belak, Marcel Goc, Joel Ward
FINAL SCORE: 2-4 Wings
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
PPG Jason Williams(3) from Drew Miller(7), Valtteri Filppula(13)
Francis Bouillon(2) from J.P. Dumont(24), Dan Hamhuis(9)
2nd Period:
PPG Nicklas Lidstrom(6) from Pavel Datsyuk(28), Henrik Zetterberg(28)
Drew Miller(7) from Brad Stuart(8), Valtteri Filppula(14)
3rd Period:
Shea Weber(10) from Ryan Suter(22), Jerred Smithson(2)
Henrik Zetterberg(13) from Pavel Datsyuk(29), Nicklas Lidstrom(26)
Goaltending Statistics:
Dan Ellis: 25/29, .862SV%, 4.11GAA
Jimmy Howard: 46/48, .958SV%, 2.00GAA
Ah, a win in regulation! That’s quite nice to see. Jimmy Howard was his Calder Trophy candidate self tonight, racking up 46 saves on 48 shots. He bailed out his defensemen a bunch of times tonight. There are stil far too many brain cramps happening in Detroit’s own zone. Hopefully that nonsense goes away very soon.
The Wings are now in 8th place in the Western Conference. They are 1 point above Calgary and tied with Nashville in points. Nashville has played 1 less game, so they are in 7th place.
Just keep winning, Wings. Just. Keep. Winning.
Oh yeah, Homer’s back on Sunday. Hooray for net front presence!
(Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
