Red Wings-Senators: Detroit GameDay

Tonight is the only game between these two League powerhouses this season. The Senators won the last meeting, 3-2 on December 12th, 2006.

This is the Wings’ first trip to Ottawa since a 3-2  (very early OtW post there) overtime win on October 11th, 2003, when their roster was stocked with players like Brett Hull, Ray Whitney, Darren McCarty, Boyd Devereaux, Derian Hatcher, and Mathieu Dandenault, not to mention Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, and Jiri Fischer. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.

The puck drops at 7:00 ET. 

The second-place and 28-10-4 Senators are 3-1-0 in 2008, with their only loss since the New Year coming to Washington on the 1st. Since then, they’ve earned wins over Buffalo (2x) and Tampa Bay. Their most recent game was their second win over the Sabres, a 3-2 shootout decision on Thursday. They are in the middle of a three-game homestand.

Daniel Alfredsson leads the Sens in points with 56 points, 26 of which are goals. Dany Heatley is second with 55 points and 25 goals. Their center, Jason Spezza, has 15 goals and 37 assists for 52 points. Obviously, the players that make up the so-called CASH line are the ones to watch in Ottawa. The only question is whether or not they’ll play together tonight.

Mike Fisher is the only other Senator with 10 or more goals at 15.

The Senators will be without Patrick Eaves (shoulder).

Ray Emery will get the start for Ottawa.

For more of the Senators’ side of things, see Scarlett Ice,  Sens Army Blog, Senators Row,  Black Aces,  Five For Smiting, and Got Sens. The guys from Sens Army Blog wrote a guest post on the team for Christy Hammond’s Behind the Jersey.

The Wings fell to 4-0-1 in 2008 with a 6-5 shootout loss to Minnesota on Thursday.  It was one of their weaker defensive efforts this season and they were fortunate to escape with a point. On Tuesday, they won a close game with Colorado, 1-0, and on Sunday, they overcame their struggles with Chicago by posting a 3-1 win. Prior to that, they got two wins over the Stars under their belt, beginning with a 4-1 performance on the 2nd and continuing with a 3-0 shutout on Saturday.

The team is fully healthy and it doesn’t look like there will be any lineup changes for tonight. So, Aaron Downey and Matt Ellis will sit out for the third consecutive game.

It’s safe to assume that the lines will start out something like they were in practice yesterday, as recorded by Bruce MacLeod:

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Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Hudler-Zetterberg-Cleary
Franzen-Draper-Samuelsson
Drake-Kopecky-Maltby

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Expect some mixing as the game goes on. The Senators have the last change and that’s going to make it somewhat difficult for Babcock to get the exact matchup he wants on Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley. However, with centers like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Draper, he has some options.

Ansar Khan suggests Babcock may split up Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski, as is his practice on the road. In that case, Lidstrom would play with Niklas Kronwall, and Rafalski would play with Andreas Lilja. Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda should constitute the third pairing in any case.

Dominik Hasek will face his one-time team tonight for the first time since he left Ottawa. He should have something to prove.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, and Winging It In Motown. Todd has some numbers for you already and Christy’s “primer” for Sens Army is here.

Tonight is a huge game for both teams. It’s a real shame that it’s the only time they meet this season, because it’s not going to settle anything. Whatever the result, one game is not enough to show superiority one way or the other. That doesn’t make a loss okay, though!

I’m cautiously optimistic that whatever happened Thursday night was an aberration and that the Wings will be back on their game tonight. It’ll be close, but, in my admittedly biased opinion, I think the Wings are the better team top-to-bottom and if they bring their “A” game, they should come out ahead.

But, like I said yesterday, if their defensive coverage is lacking like it was against Minnesota, they’ll get lit up. Which Red Wings team will we get? We should know within the first few minutes.