Red Wings-Blues: Detroit GameDay

Tonight marks the third of eight games between the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues this season.

The series is tied 1-1, with the Blues having won the November 13th meeting 4-3, and  the Wings winning 3-0 on November 21st. The Central Division foes will face each other twice more this month (the 26th and 31st) before wrapping things up with three games in March.

The puck drops at 8:30 ET.

 

The Blues (16-12-2) rebounded from being blanked by the Wings last month with three straight wins and an overtime loss to finish November. Since then, however, they're just 2-4-1. 

Their only wins this month have come against the Blackhawks on the 1st (3-1) and the Oilers on the 7th (4-3). Two nights after their win over Edmonton, they dropped a 9-5 decision in Colorado. After that, it was a 5-4 shootout loss to the visiting Oilers.

The Blues' remaining losses came to Florida (1-0) and Calgary (5-3). They haven't played since Sunday, so once again the Wings are facing a rested team as they play their second game in two nights.

Brad Boyes leads the Blues in goals with 19, but Paul Kariya leads in points with 29 (21A). Boyes is the only Blue to have scored 10 or more goals, though Kariya is not far behind with eight.

The newest member of the team, Andy MacDonald, has only five goals, but he scored one in his debut on Sunday and notched an assist.

It looks like the Blues will be without only forward Mike Johnson (hip).

Former Red Wing Manny Legace should be in the net for St. Louis. Manny has posted a 2.25 GAA and .916 save percentage this season. He gave up four goals Sunday, but has beaten the Wings the last three times he’s played them in St. Louis.

For the Blues perspective, see Note Speak, St. Louis Game Time, The Hockey Chick, and The Checking Line.

 

The Wings are coming off a pretty decisive win over the last-place LA Kings last night. They quickly allayed any fears that they’d play down to the level of an underachieving team by jumping out to a 2-0 lead before the 10:00 mark.

For a brief period at the end of the first and the start of the second, they allowed the Kings to get back into the game. LA tied it up, but the Wings soon took the lead again and never looked back.

Five different players scored for the Wings last night, which is a good sign for those of us concerned about their secondary scoring. Henrik Zetterberg started the team out with a nice shot off the feed from Nick Lidstrom, and Jiri Hudler followed up a little over six minutes later with his eighth of the year.

Tomas Holmstrom put the Wings up 3-2 just over three minutes after the Kings tied it with something of a garbage goal. Dan Cleary knocked home is 11th of the year eight minutes later.

Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula finished up the scoring in the third with their fifth and eighth goals, respectively.

Kris Draper played only 14:15 in his return from a knee sprain, but I thought he looked good out there. The only remaining injured Red Wing is Kirk Maltby, who may be back for the New Year’s Eve Blues game.

Dominik Hasek looked a little weak on the Kings’ second goal, but ended up with 18 saves. He’ll be “backing up” Chris Osgood tonight, though he won’t see the ice in anything less than an emergency.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, be sure to stop by Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, and Winging It In Motown.

HockeyTownTodd already has some pregame comments posted.

 

The Wings can’t expect to have the same success on the power play that they had last night, when they went 3-for-5 with the man-advantage.

The Blues are the second-best penalty killing team in the League at 87.3 percent, and their 142 times shorthanded is good for 20th in the League (compare to Anaheim’s 207, which puts them at first, and the Wings’ 168, which is second-most).

In other words, they don’t take a ton of penalties, and they’re good at killing off those that they do take.

The Wings should, of course, take advantage of any power play opportunities they're given, but they’re more likely going to have to score at even strength.

It was good to see the Wings dominate the Kings, as it bodes well for tonight. The Blues have had a rough December, but they remain a dangerous team—and if the Wings had gone into tonight playing as they have recently, they would've been in for an upset.

If last night is any indication, though, they're at least on the road back to their “A” game—maybe somewhere between “B-plus” and “A-minus.”

The problem, of course, is that the Blues are both rested and fast, while the Wings will be tired from their game  and from travel. Because of that, we can expect at least some trouble.

The Blues are looking to this game to help them get out of the slump they’ve been in, so you can bet that they’re taking tonight seriously.

Hopefully the Wings will be able to weather the storm at the start—a task that will be made easier by the presence of a rested Chris Osgood between the pipes. If they can balance a defensive stand with a few early goals, it would go a long way in taking the wind out of the Blues’ sails.

If they can’t do that and the Blues get ahead, it’ll be difficult for the Wings to stage a comeback later in the game as their energy level drops. Not impossible, but difficult.

(via On the Wings)