WINGS THINGS
WEEKEND SPLIT
The Wings quickly righted the wrongs that earned the a loss against Ottawa on Saturday night when they travelled to Buffalo on Sunday evening and won their second game in the last three. The Wings are (11-7-7) and are fourth place in the Atlantic Division.
SENS PROVING TO BE A TOUGH DIVISION RIVAL
They have only played each other as Atlantic Division rivals twice but in both contests the Red Wings have not been on their game when taking on the Senators. The Wings couldn’t capitalize on opportunities nor could they stay out of the penalty box long enough to avenge the 6-1 loss they suffered at the hands of the Senators one month ago.
Both the Wings and the Senators were 2 for 8 on the PP but the Wings squandered two opportunities with a two-man advantage. The Sens negated the first Red Wings powerplay goal with two quick goals of their own. After a scoreless, but physical, second period, the Red Wings tied it up on a 5 on 3 but maintained the tie for a few minutes before the Sens regained the lead on their own two-man advantage. The Sens would go add to their lead on a powerplay goal from Clarke MacArthur with 4 minutes remaining to solidify the win.
Special teams can dictate the momentum of the game and in this game, it was the Senators that benefited. Despite allowing two powerplay goals, the Senators rallied after strong penalty killing efforts and used the momentum generated on the penalty kill to control the game.
Stephen Weiss returned to the lineup after missing time due to injury. Weiss played just over 11 minutes including a minute of powerplay time and registered just one shot.
Bobby Ryan has two goals in each game against the Red Wings, the sniper clearly needs a little more attention from the Red Wings defense.
Jared Cowen laid a questionable elbow on Pavel Datsyuk with 7 minutes left to play in the third and Datsyuk remains sidelined with a potential concussion.
BUFFALO
The Wings didn’t have to wait long for the opportunity to get back on the ice and put in an effort more like the game against the Hurricanes and less like the one against the Senators.
Sunday evening against the Sabres was a far better effort, despite not having Datsyuk in the lineup. Jonas Gustavson had another strong start and improved his record to 5-0-1 this year.
Daniel Alfredsson returned on Sunday night after missing time due to a groin injury. He had a nice dish to Darren Helm for an assist on a pretty goal to tie the game at the start of the second and also buried an empty netter. Alfie had a strong first game back and will look to build on that leading up to Sunday’s game in Ottawa where he’ll return to Canada’s Capital for the first time since leaving for the Winged Wheel.
GAME DAY vs. BRUINS
The Red Wings (11-7-7) host the Bruins (16-6-2) tonight, game time is 7:30. The Bruins are 8-1-1 over their last 10 games while the Red Wings are a disappointing 2-3-5 over their past 10 starts.
It is an important game for the Red Wings as they not only need to turn their latest trouble around, but also need to prove themselves against the league’s top teams. The two wins the Wings have earned over their last ten have been over struggling teams in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference standings.
The Bruins are one of the hottest team in the league and have depth to rival that of any other team. The Bruins have eight players with 10 points or more compared to only five Red Wings with point totals in the double digits.
Loui Erikson snapped a three game scoreless streak with a three point (1G, 2A) night against the Penguins Monday.
Former Michigan State Spartan Torey Krug will play his first regular season game at The Joe.
Jonas Gustavsson will get the start tonight and try to defend his virtually spotless record this year. Gustavsson has yet to lose a game in regulation this year and with Jimmy Howard losing his last seven starts, the young Swede is making a strong case to get more starts as the season goes on.
Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi remain out of the lineup due to injury so the Wings will again mix up the usual lines and look to generate some secondary scoring. Darren Helm has goals in each of his last three games and Johan Franzen is coming off a two point night and has eight points in his last seven games
ERICSSON EXTENSION
Shutdown defenseman Jonathan Ericsson sign a six year, 25.5 million dollar contract extension on Wednesday. The top-pair defenseman leads all Red Wings in short handed ice time. Ericsson is 6’5… and mobile, which is a rarity in the league. Ericsson was the last draft pick in the 2002 NHL Entry draft (291st overall, the league still had nine rounds instead of seven at the draft). The big d-man will have his hands full tonight trying to shut down the tough Bruins.
PROJECTED LINEUPS
RED WINGS
RED WINGS
Franzen – Zetterberg – Nyquist Abdelkader – Helm – Alfredsson Miller – Andersson – Tatar Cleary – Weiss - Samuelsson
Kronwall – Ericsson Quincey – Smith Kindl – Lashoff
Jonas Gustavsson Jimmy Howard
Injuries: DeKeyser (shoulder), Datsyuk (upper body), Bertuzzi (upper body)
BRUINS
Lucic – Krejci – Iginla Marchand – Bergeron – Eriksson Soderberg – Kelly – Smith Paille – Campbell – Thornton
Chara – Hamilton Bartkowski – Boychuk Krug – Miller
Tukka Rask Chad Johnson
Injuries: McQuaid (Day to Day), Seidenberg (Day to Day), Savard