After an eventful three game stretch over four days which saw the Red Wings win in overtime, in a blowout and via the shootout last night in Dallas vs. the Stars, Detroit suddenly finds themselves once again atop the Western Conference standings, albeit possibly for a very short time given Chicago's home contest tonight vs. the Buffalo Sabres.
Nevertheless, last night's gutty road victory provided some comfort to Red Wing fans as two key pieces of this year's Red Wing roster stepping to the forefront and playing a pivotal role.
Jiri Hudler has been a lightning rod for criticism for several years in Detroit, but in particular the past season and a half since returning from a one-year stint in the KHL. However, the truth of the matter is his play of late has garnered him extra ice-time from one of his biggest critics, coach Mike Babcock.
In the past nine games, Hudler has scored 5 goals and added 2 assists while getting an average of 17:51 in ice time over that stretch, a healthy 3 minute bump up from his season average of 14:53 per game. Although the absence of
Todd Bertuzzi for a portion of that stretch may have played a role in Hudler's increased time on ice and production, Hudler has made the most of the opportunity and now sits tied for 3rd on the club in goals scored this season (13). He's on pace to equal his career high of 23 goals and has helped offset the decreased goal production in the first half of the season from
Henrik Zetterberg and
Daniel Cleary.
Last night, Hudler's fortunate backhanded goal knotted up the contest at two goals apiece early in the second period. More importantly, Hudler did his best
Henrik Zetterberg impersonation in scoring a beautiful shootout winner with the infamous one handed Peter Forsberg shootout move. Sure, the goals and production get the accolades. However, the fact Babcock had the confidence in Hudler to play him just a shade over 19 minutes last night speaks volumes about the improved play from Hudler this season. He's earned his cushy spot alongside Zetterberg and
Valteri Filppula and the Red Wings will need him to continue to provide that additional scoring punch if he is to remain on one of Detroit's top two lines and the Wings want to remain near the top of the Western Conference standings.
Meanwhile,
Ty Conklin put forth a strong performance in goal last night in his 8th start of the campaign, helping to alleviate the concerns over
Jimmy Howard's workload through the first half of the regular season. Realistically, the more Conklin can perform as he did last night, or last week in Chicago, the greater the likelihood he can help avoid the need to start Jimmy Howard more than 65 times this regular season.
The Red Wings only have two more back-to-back situations over the remainder of the season (March 14th at Anaheim and April 5th vs. New Jersey). In addition to those likely potential starts for Conklin, Babcock has shown he is not afraid to have "Conks" start against some of the top teams in the league as evidenced by his start in Chicago or his early season start in Washington, which ended up in disaster.
If nothing else, Conklin's solid performances in Chicago and Dallas have likely quelled the calls (for now) for Ken Holland to examine acquiring a solid veteran netminder to backup Jimmy Howard during the stretch run. However, given there are still six weeks remaining prior to the deadline and the club still has a healthy amount of cap space, do not be surprised if Holland attempts to solidify this position to protect the club from riding a Conklin/MacDonald partnership if Howard were to fall to injury.
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It's
all but official now, but according to several reports including this one by
Ansar Khan, it appears the NHL has reached an agreement with the University of Michigan to hold next year's Winter Classic at the "Big House" between the Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The official announcement isn't expected until early February, following the NHL All-Star festivities and the return of the Red Wings from an extended road trip.
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Definitely looking forward to taking in the next installment of "NHL 36" featuring the Wings legendary captain,
Nicklas Lidstrom. Having watched the first two editions of this new program, which featured Chicago's
Patrick Kane and Boston's
Patrice Bergeron, it should give fans an intriguing glimpse at the lives of hockey players in the same manner that the 24/7 series on HBO provides. Speculation is that
Tomas Holmstrom plays a significant role in playing Lidstrom's "wingman".
The debut of Lidstrom's appearance on NHL 36 will air Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 25th on the NBC Sports Network. The show will be followed by NHL LIVE at 7:00 p.m. ET, and the Red Wings’ game in Montreal against the
Canadiens at 7:30 p.m ET.
NHL 36: Lidstrom will re-air on the NBC Sports Network multiple times in case you miss it:
Thursday, Jan. 26 at 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 27 at 9:00 a.m.
Sunday, Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m.
It also will air in the United States and Canada on NHL Network™ on:
Friday, Jan. 27 at 12:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 9:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 5 at 5:00 p.m.
(ALL TIMES ET)
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Be sure to check out the latest edition of the
"Hockeybuzz Hotstove" (#49), where I provide a brief overview on what I feel this team's biggest need is at the trade deadline and what player could fill that role at a reasonable cost.
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