Game 2 Wings vs Hawks Game Day Updates

• Dekeyser skated for the first time since suffering a broken thumb. It’s not consequential for the Wings right now, but it’s good news none the less. Double Deke said it’s still hard to hold his stick, and he can’t pass or shoot, but he’s skating to keep his game legs, keep his heart rate up, and get in a good sweat (he said it, not me). He’ll have his right hand in a cast for at least another week after having his first bionic implants (metal plate and 2 screws in his thumb), and before yesterday, the extent of his workouts have been exercising his thumb with a rubber band. Full report by Helen St. James here. /

Miller is still working in with the 4^th line in practice and Babcock said if he’s ready to play and is in a position to help the team, that he’ll be in the lineup for game 2. Miller said he thinks he’s ready to play and thinks he’s an option right now, but it’s up to the coaches to decide. Miller says he’s not 100% yet, but he thinks he’s close to it, can play, feels comfortable with it and is ready if Babcock gives him the nod. If Miller is back in, who will sit? If it’s Eaves I may break things. And if it’s not Eaves, it would probably be Bertuzzi. I don’t want Bert to sit either, but I guess if Eaves or Bert have to sit, I’d sit Bert because we need Eaves’ speed and energy, Babcock did say he wouldn’t be putting Miller in as a center for Emmerton.
Brendan Smith will remain in the lineup. Smith has received a lot of criticism after game one, but Babcock still has confidence in him and will give him the opportunity to learn from his mistakes and continue progressing. Ansar Khan reports that Babcock doesn’t think the criticism Smith has received is all warranted.

“I heard all the stuff, I heard the emotion from some of our staff, too,” Babcock said. “I didn’t see it like that.

“I saw a young guy trying to make a bunch of plays and no one there to accept the pass at the other end. So, what I did today with Smitty, I showed him a bunch of good plays and I said, ‘Let me decide and you decide, nobody else decides.’ ”

“I thought Smitty fit in perfect. This is kind of the way I look at this situation: Smitty’s played (34) games in the NHL in the two-pair. Big E (Jonathan Ericsson) played in the 5-hole for the Red Wings for (several) years.”

Smith is just focusing on improving.

“A few buddies told me it was all over Twitter,” Smith said. “It doesn’t really faze me that much. It’s somebody’s opinion. I just put that behind myself and come out and play.”

“There were a lot of good plays I felt that I made and there are some things that I have to build on,” Smith said. “Coach and I went over some things this morning. Coach said, ‘I watched the game without the announcers and it was a totally different thing. Just take it for how you play and build from the good things that you did.’ “

“If you ever watched a game from ice level it’s like you don’t see anything,” Smith said. “So, when you’re up top you get to see a different atmosphere, how they come forechecking, because you don’t always see everything. It’s pretty cool to see it like that, and it does help my game for sure.”

Asked where he can improve, Smith said, “Move my feet a little quicker in certain situations, maybe shoot the a little more in some situations and then there are some things that I can look at with my D-partner and we can collaborate so we can get better.”

Bill Roose tells us that Babcock isn’t putting the loss on the D either

“There was no one for the D to pass to,” Babcock said. “We didn’t play fast. We played fine in the first 20 minutes, after that we got skated into the ice. … In the playoffs, it’s a bigger deal, especially when it’s Game 1, it could be the series. But if you actually look at the facts and what’s happened to us over the last while, they’re only human. They can only travel so far and do so much and push so hard and we didn’t have it in us. It was simple. So instead of me spending hours reinventing the wheel, we’re going to do what we do and we’re going to do it better and we’re going to do it faster and we’re going to make sure we got a good series.”

and Smith doesn’t put too much stock in the “experts” not giving the Wings much of a chance.

“We’ve been hearing that before the first game and everybody’s been counting us out,” he said. “I think everybody was counting us out against Anaheim as well. Hockey is an interesting game. Anything can happen. The parody is so close, you see L.A. win it last year and they’re doing a great job right now, but anything can happen. Our team has been very good at adapting to different games so it’s just something that we have to work on.”

• We’ve long suggested that Franzen’s teammates agitate him before games, because angry mule is good hockey mule. Zetterberg agrees. The following conversation cracked me up./

Reporter: Do you sometimes wish Johan (Franzen) was a little meaner on the ice?

Zetterberg: “Well, he can be pretty mean… I think he’s playing the best hockey when he’s a little bit grumpy. Maybe it’s up to us to get him grumpy before games.”

Reporter: Do you put a pea under his mattress?

Zetterberg: *laughter* “I think it all starts with dinner the night before.”

Reporter: Do you make him pay?

Zetterberg: *mischevious silence and smiling* I guess we’ll see…

I hope Franzen’s teammates get him good and pissed off… for everyone’s sake.

Lineup

Blackhawks Lineup

LET’S GO RED WINGS!!!