After the almost comeback against the Penguins, the Wings had a day to rest up for another marquee match up against the Vancouver Canucks.
The best teams in the Western Conference square off for the final time this season. Detroit is 2-1-0 against the ‘Nucks this season. Both wins have come in extra time, a 5-4 OT win and a 2-1 shootout victory. Vancouver is coming off a 3-1 loss to the Manitoba Moose Phoenix Coyotes…on FRIDAY. Must have been a nice weekend off. The Wings meanwhile are on a mini-2-game skid themselves.
Whether the Wings want to admit it or not, the top seed in the West just might be out of reach. Both teams have 9 games remaining and the Canucks have an 8 point lead for first. While it would be nice to win the President’s Trophy and have home ice throughout the playoffs, the Wings should just worry about winning the Central, getting the number 2 seed, and most importantly getting healthy.
More on the injuries after the jump.
Nucks Misconduct is your SBNation Canucks’ blog.
The Expected Line-up
Danny Cleary — Henrik Zetterberg — Jiri Hudler
Tomas Holmstrom — Mike Modano — Valtteri Filppula
Patrick Eaves — Darren Helm — Kris Draper
Drew Miller — Justin Abdelkader — Jan Mursak
Nicklas Lidstrom — Jonathan Ericsson
Jimmy Howard (starting)
Joey MacDonald
Scratches: A defenseman…probably Kindl or Ericsson.
Injuries: Pavel Datsyuk (lower body), Johan Franzen (groin), and Todd Bertuzzi (back).
LTIR: Chris Osgood (groin)
And just when we thought we were getting healthy, the injuries just keep on coming. Bert joins the every growing list. It will be the first game Bertuzzi has missed since he re-signed with the Red Wings before the 2009-10 season. There are a few bright spots though. Joey MacDonald was sent down to Grand Rapids, which means Ozzie is healthy and good to go as back-up. It also means that The Sak is Back!. Mursak will be added to the line-up. The Wings will have a good amount of skill on the sidelines for this one, but with Mursak in, hopefully the kids can cause some havoc with their speed. Speed kills. UPDATE: Hudler is hoping to play tonight and the Wings signed junior goalie Troy Passingham to a 24-hour amateur tryout contract incase Ozzie can’t dress. UPDATE II: Hudler WILL play tonight and JoeyMac is back! Ozzie has been placed on long term injured reserve. Here we go again.
| DET | HOW THEY MATCH UP | VAN |
| 3.19 (2nd) | GOALS PER GAME | 3.21 (1st) |
| 2.8 (18th) | GOALS AGAINST PER GAME | 2.3 (2nd) |
| 21.9 (4th) | POWER PLAY % | 24.9 (1st) |
| 83.3 (12th) | PENALTY KILL % | 86.0 (1st) |
| Franzen (27 goals) | GOAL LEADER | D. Sedin (38 goals) |
| Zetterberg (73 points) | POINTS LEADER | D. Sedin (93 points) |
- The Wings are 80-52-18-4 (W-L-T-OTL) all time against the Mother Canuckers.
- The Canucks have some injuries too. Alexander Edler (back), Andrew Alberts (wrist),
Kevin Bieksa(foot), Manny Malhotra (eye), and Mikael Samuelsson (lower body i.e. vagina) are all out Wednesday. - It’s a good thing Samuelsson is out. I still hate him.
- The Canucks (103 points) have a gigantic lead over Calgary (85 points), the second place team in the Northwest Division. 18 freakin’ points!
- Robert Luongo is 33-14-7 with a 2.23 GAA and a .925 SV% this season. Luongo is 8-10-5 in 23 starts against the Red Wings in his career. He sports a 2.73 GAA and .924 SV% against the Winged Wheel.
Prediction: This might be a tough game to pull out because of all the injuries….but RULE #76: No excuses, play like a champion! Wings win 3-2. Suck it, Samuelsson. Nick Lidstrom is your player of the game.
