Red Wings-Coyotes: Detroit GameDay

Currently, the Coyotes are fourth in the Pacific Division, ahead of only Los Angeles.  Their 27 wins and 56 points are good for the 8th spot in the West, though two other teams also have 56 points with fewer wins.

Shane Doan leads the Coyotes with 48 points, but Radim Vrbata is the leading goalscorer with 22.  Rookie Peter Mueller has scored five goals in his last five games, bringing his total to 15.  Doan (16), Vrbata, and Mueller are three of the team’s five 10+ goalscorers; Steven Reinprecht (12) and Fredrik Sjostrom (10) are the others.

Dan Carcillo (knee injury) is the only Coyote listed as out.

Ilya Bryzgalov will start in net for Phoenix.

For the Coyotes' point of vew, see Coyotes Corner,  Hip Shot Blog, One Fan's Perspective (and this guest post at Behind the Jersey), and True Coyote Love.

In Coyotes news not related to the game, they are sponsoring PGA Tour golfer Jeff Quinney for a year.  Bizarre.

The Wings are 8-2-1 in January, with two blocks of four wins sandwiching a three-game skid.  They began the month with a pair of wins over Dallas (4-1, 3-0) and a win each over Chicago (3-1) and Colorado (1-0).  They then lost in a shootout to Minnesota  (6-5) on the 10th and proceeded to lose their next two games, beginning with a 3-2 decision in Ottawa.

Three nights later, they dropped one to the Thrashers, 5-1.  Beginning with a 3-2 shootout win over Vancouver on the 17th, however, the Wings pulled out of that skid and continued on with three consecutive road wins: San Jose (6-3), LA (3-0), and Anaheim (2-1).

Detroit is atop the Central Division, the West, and the League with a 37-10-4 record and 78 points.

Henrik Zetterberg is the team's leading goalscorer (28) and point-getter (61), but Pavel Datsyuk is not far behind in points, with 58.  Six Red Wings have 10+ goals: Dan Cleary (19), Tomas Holmstrom (19), Pavel Datsyuk (17), Valtteri Filppula (15), and Jiri Hudler (11).

Hudler has not scored in five games, however, and is among the coldest of the Wings' scoring forwards.  Datsyuk is goalless in his last seven, making him the offensive forward most due for a breakout game.

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