I’m saying this so much that it’s starting to lose all meaning: This is the biggest game of the year so far for the Wings. A win in regulation will put them 3 points up on Calgary, a loss will put them down by 1 point. It’s also possible to jump up to 7th place with a win tonight. Nashville is in Atlanta tonight, and a loss in regulation for them will allow the Wings to leap frog over them. The lineup for the Wings is the same tonight as it was Sunday. Jimmy Howard gets the start in goal.
Detroit Red Wings
Forwards:
Tomas Holmstrom – Pavel Datsyuk – Johan Franzen
Dan Cleary – Henrik Zetterberg – Jason Williams
Drew Miller – Valtteri Filppula – Todd Bertuzzi
Kris Draper – Darren Helm – Patrick Eaves
Defense:
Nicklas Lidstrom – Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall – Brad Stuart
Jonathan “Big Rig” Ericsson – Andreas Lilja
Starting Goalie: Jimmy Howard
Injuries: Kirk Maltby
Calgary Flames
Forwards:
Rene Bourque – Matt Stajan – Jarome Iginla
Chris Higgins – Daymond Langkow – Ales Kotalik
Niklas Hagman – Craig Conroy – David Moss
Curtis Glencross – Eric Nystrom – Jamal Mayers
Defense:
Robyn Regehr – Ian White
Jay Bouwmeester – Steve Staios
Mark Giordano – Cory Sarich
Starting Goalie: Miikka Kiprusoff
Injuries: None
FINAL SCORE: 4-2 Calgary
Scoring Summary:
1st Period:
No scoring
2nd Period:
Daymond Langkow(13) from Ian White(21)
Pavel Datsyuk(20) from Tomas Holmstrom(12), Brian Rafalski(28)
PPG Tomas Holmstrom(18) from Nicklas Lidstrom(33), Brian Rafalski(29)
3rd Period:
Jarome Iginla(31) from Rene Bourque(28), Matt Stajan(30)
Rene Bourque(20) from Jarome Iginla(33), Robyn Regehr(14)
SH-ENG Chris Higgins(7) unassisted
Goaltending Statistics:
Miikka Kiprusoff: 28/30, .933SV%, 2.00GAA
Jimmy Howard: 28/31, .903SV%, 3.05GAA
What an awful 3rd period by the Wings. Absolutely terrible. Missed assignments, dumb plays, giveaways… Awful. The power plays the Wings got were ugly, too. They tried to get far too fancy and gave up clear shots on goal. The Wings didn’t play like the wanted it tonight, and they paid for it. They’ve dropped down to 9th place now. They’re 1 point behind Calgary. Nashville won tonight, so the Wings are now down 3 points on them. Very costly loss.
