Ah, it’s good to be back.
After a game in which the Wings were outgunned by a hungry and physical Nahsville team, they return home to play host to their biggest Eastern Conference rivals, the Penguins. While both teams are fighting for positioning in their respective conferences, the Pens are without their two best players in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and we just learned that Matt Cooke is looking at a suspension for the rest of the regular season and first round of the playoffs for his hit on Ryan McDonagh.
The Wings are missing some top players of their own as Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler will all sit out tonight’s game. Ruslan Salei is back on the ice after the birth of his third child, and the Wings will go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, as they have no salary cap space to call anyone up from Grand Rapids.
Wings-Pens games are always interesting, but the lack of stars means this is more about getting the 2 points than beating up on a rival. Of course, it was about a year ago that Jimmy Howard showed Sidney Crosby what kind of catching glove he wears, and that gives me an excuse to link to this.
This is the first of many tests for the Wings on this current homestand. It’s time to let the rest of the NHL know that te Joe is once again no place for visitors. Let’s do it.
