I’m very excited. There is absolutely nothing better than NHL playoff hockey. The Wings have a tough, tough, tough match up in the first round this year. The Nashville Predators are better than they ever have been. Their defensive game have always been good, but now they can score. They have a Vezina candidate in goal in Pekka Rinne, KHL MVP Alexander Radulov, the Kostitsyn brothers, Mike Fisher, and Martin Erat up front, and of course, Ryan Suter and Shea Weber on the blue line. This series may very well go 7 games. It’s rough. For the Wings, Darren Helm returns tonight from his sprained MCL, which was unexpected. Helm is a big boost to this lineup. He instantly improves the penalty kill and energy level for the team. Let’s hope that injury hasn’t robbed him of his wheels. He’ll be centering a line with Drew Miller and Dan Cleary. Chris Conner, Cory Emmerton, Riley Sheahan, and Jakub Kindl are the healthy scratches for tonight. Jimmy Howard, of course, starts in goal.
UPDATE 8:11PM: Gustav Nyquist is a healthy scratch. Cory Emmerton is in.
| Detroit Red Wings |
| Forwards |
| Johan Franzen |
Pavel Datsyuk |
Todd Bertuzzi |
| Valtteri Filppula |
Henrik Zetterberg |
Jiri Hudler |
| Drew Miller |
Darren Helm |
Dan Cleary |
| Justin Abdelkader |
Cory Emmerton |
Tomas Holmstrom |
|
| Defense |
| Nicklas Lidstrom |
Jonathan “Big Rig” Ericsson |
| Niklas Kronwall |
Brad Stuart |
| Kyle Quincey |
Ian White |
|
| Starting Goalie |
|
|
| Injuries |
| Patrick Eaves, Joey MacDonald |
|
| Nashville Predators |
| Forwards |
| Sergei Kostitsyn |
Mike Fisher |
Martin Erat |
| Andrei Kostitsyn |
David Legwand |
Alexander Radulov |
| Gabriel Bourque |
Nick Spaling |
Patric Hornqvist |
| Matt Halischuk |
Paul Gaustad |
Brandon Yip |
|
| Defense |
| Ryan Suter |
Shea Weber |
| Francis Bouillon |
Kevin Klein |
| Jack Hillen |
Roman Josi |
|
| Starting Goalie |
|
|
| Injuries |
|
|
| FINAL SCORE |
| 2-3 Nashville |
| SCORING SUMMARY |
| 1st Period |
| Paul Gaustad(1) from Brandon Yip(1), Francis Bouillon(1) |
| 2nd Period |
| PPG Henrik Zetterberg(1) unassisted |
| Gabriel Bourque(1) from Matt Halischuk(1) |
| 3rd Period |
| Gabriel Bourque(2) from Nick Spaling(1), Patric Hornqvist(1) |
| PPG Tomas Holmstrom(1) from Kyle Quincey(1), Valtteri Filppula(1) |
| GOALTENDING STATISTICS |
| Jimmy Howard: 23/26, .885SV%, 3.06GAA |
| Pekka Rinne: 35/37, .946SV%, 2.00GAA |
I've been a Red Wings fan for as long as I remember. I quite literally can't remember a time when I didn't watch my beloved Red Wings. I write code for a living. 