The Western Conference Final comes back to Detroit for Game 5 tonight, as the Red Wings get their first chance to knock out the Blackhawks and get a rematch against the Pittsburgh Penguins (Eastern Conference playoff champions, sweeping the Carolina Hurricanes).
It would be foolish to assume Chicago will come out the same way they did in Game 4 (Joel Quenneville’s now legendary quote notwithstanding). Still, with their backs to the wall for the first time in the playoffs, it will be interesting to see how the Blackhawks will come out.
As of this writing, Pavel Datsuyk and Nicklas Lidstrom for Detroit and Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Havlat for Chicago are all day-to-day, which means it will be a game-time decision if they’ll play; however, Datsuyk and Lidstrom did not skate this morning, meaning it’s unlikely they’ll play tonight. Chris Osgood will start in goal for the Red Wings.
While Game 4 forcefully answered the “When will Marian Hossa show up?” question, the APB continues for Patrick Kane. Five shots in four games and a minus seven will make him the focus of much attention at the end of this series.
As for Cristobal Huet, his underwhelming performance in Game 4 (being pulled for Corey Crawford after giving up five goals on 26 shots) doesn’t give confidence to Blackhawks fans, who are hoping beyond hope to see a 39 behind the pipes instead of 38.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. ET on Versus and CBC. See you back here then.
