The game hasn’t started yet, but we have some line-up changes for tonight’s game. Andreas Lilja will actually be playing tonight so Derek Meech is a healthy scratch. Darren McCarty is also returning from injury (a sore groin) and Kirk Maltby will be a healthy scratch as well.

Before the game even starts, we can easily hear the “Detroit Sucks” chant by the Chicago fans…I heard that way too much this summer (I was living in downtown Chicago).

The Mule scored his fifth goal of the season (now a four game point streak). Henrik Zetterberg passed the puck to Johan Franzen, who was to the right of Khabibulin just behind the red line. He then brought the puck near the middle of the crease and backhanded it in to give the Wings the early lead. The goal came on a power play goal (Chicago had been called for tripping Marian Hossa). The Wings have had a 33% success rate (10-for-30) on the power play in October, which is the highest in a month since 1986.

Chicago scores their first goal of the game, also on the power play. Conklin lets up a juicy rebound, but Kris Versteeg chips the puck in for his second goal of the season.

Both teams unveiled their Winter Classic jerseys during the first intermission of tonight’s game.

Old English D on the front with Winged Wheels on the shoulders with string ties and a Winter Classic patch for Detroit’s jersey. I do like that it combines the vintage jersey yet acknowledges the iconic Winged Wheel on the shoulders. The Blackhawks’ jersey seems more subdued in nature.

“We’re proud to represent the rich history of the Detroit Red Wings and the City of Detroit,” said Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland. “The Old English ‘D’ served as the hockey team’s very first logo and is widely recognized as a symbol for our city and its sports teams.”

“These retro jerseys only strengthen what is going to be a historic day for our organization, the NHL and the city of Chicago,” Blackhawks Senior Vice President of Business Operations Jay Blunk said. “The Blackhawks and Red Wings logos are second to none in professional sports and seeing them on these jerseys only makes us more excited for the Winter Classic. We look forward to seeing our fans sporting our jersey around town as we count down the days to January 1.”

There is still no word on how many Winter Classic tickets will be available to Red Wings fans.

Aaron Johnson’s wrist shot trickles behind Ty Conklin to get a one goal lead over Detroit. The goal came as a result of a Brett Lebda turnover in the neutral zone. In an unrelated note, Lebda had to get over 30 tickets for friends at tonight’s game. He is from just outside Chicago so he has plenty of friends and family wanting tickets to see him play.

Aaron Johnson got sent to the penalty box and Marian Hossa scores on a one-timer to tie the game up. He has 9 points in the past six games and is on a six game point streak.

I’m loving the fact that Hossa seems to finally be clicking with his new team.

Martin Havlat scores just after the Wings penalty expires. It’s his third of the season. Ugh.

Uh oh. Franzen just left the ice with an apparent knee injury. Hopefully it’s nothing major.

Brent Sopel took a shot from the point after the Hawks won the face-off and it was re-directed underneath Conklin’s arm. Crap.

Niklas Kronwall gets off a quick shot to score his first goal of the season and gets the Wings within a goal. He also notched an assist on Hossa’s earlier goal tonight.

I think Pavel Datsyuk was jealous of all the attention last night’s Hossa goal was getting so he just owned Khabibulin with a backhand beauty. It was a one hand goal, which Ken Daniels called a classic Datsyukian Deke!

The goals came just 1:38 apart and the game is now tied up. Chicago immediately called a time out to settle their team down.

Wings take the lead on a Jiri Hudler goal.

Crap, Patrick Kane scores to even the game up with a 5-on-3 advantage (Kronwall and Cleary were in the box). Chicago remains on the power play. Crap.

The Wings get called for another penalty. It will be the Hawks eighth power play while Detroit only has three.

Come on guys, you need to stay out of the box if you want to win such a close, high scoring game!

FYI – Hudler, Kronwall, and Hossa each have a goal and two assists in tonight’s game.

Chicago 0-for-1 in the shootout.

For a second, it looked like he might lose the puck, but that was just Datsyuk waving his stick over the puck and scores!

Toews beats Conklin to make Chicago 1-for-2

Everything tied up on shootout

Chicago 1-for-3

It looked like Jiri Hudler was going to score, but Khabibulin grabbed it before it crossed the goal line.

It was a hard slap shot that went above Khabibulin’s left glove.