Detroit vs. Phoenix: Sweep 'Em
Detroit ends their western road trip tonight in Phoenix along with their fourth and final regular season game against the Coyotes. The Wings have won all 3 meeting this season and will look to sweep the Yotes in the regular season series just like they did last year in the playoffs.
Puck drops at 8 pm on NBCSN.
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It's still unknown who will get the start in net tonight for the Wings, but my gut tells me that it will be MacDonald and that Conklin has played his last game in the winged wheel. As much as I don't like the Mac attack, and I know some of you love him (I don't get it) he does at this point give us a better shot at winning than Ty Conks-cant-block can.
Joey Mac is not the answer. He CAN NOT be relied upon to take us to the promise land if something were to happen to Jimmy again, knock on wood. He may get us through a game here and there but he is not a legitimate NHL backup
The Wings power play is horrendous as evident by them blowing every chance including a full 5-3. They are 6 for 65 in their last 22 games. That shouldn't be much of an issue tonight, the Coyotes are the least penalized team in the league. Barring a major meltdown this game should see its fair share of 5-on-5 hockey.
Babs swapped Datsyuk and Zetterberg at points on Saturday night hoping that it may spark some offense, its possible that he could do the same tonight in an effort to give Zetterberg a chance to open up his offensive game where he wouldn't be taking on as much of a defensive role having been matched up against the opponents top lines.
DETROIT RED WINGS TEAM NOTES
DET is 63-39-22-3 all-time vs PHX
DET is 28-18-14-2 all-time at PHX
DET is 6-4-1-0 all-time when playing the day after the Super Bowl (4-1-1-0 when AFC wins, 2-3-0-0 when NFC wins)
DET is 10-6-0 when scoring first on the road this season
DET is 68-4-4 the last 76 times they've scored 4+ goals in a game
DETROIT RED WINGS PLAYER NOTES
• N. Lidstrom's next goal will tie him with K. Nilsson and T. Steen for 7th place in NHL history amongst Swedes (264)
• N. Lidstrom's next assist will give him sole possession of 21st place in NHL history (currently tied with P. Esposito, 873)
• N. Lidstrom is 2 goals behind J. Ogrodnick for 8th place all-time in DET team history (265)
• P. Datsyuk's next assist will tie him with A. Zhamnov for 8th place in NHL history amongst Russians (470)
• P. Datsyuk's next goal will give him sole possession of 10th place in NHL history amongst Russians (currently tied with S. Samsonov, 235)
• P. Datsyuk played in his 100th career NHL game on 1/22/03 at EDM
• H. Zetterberg is currently tied with T. Gradin for 15th place in NHL scoring history amongst Swedes (593 points)
Discuss: If the opportunity arose would you take a shot at either Leighton or Niittymaki to fill the backup role?
LGRW!
I don't understand the love of Mac Daddy either, but compared to Conks...
Would probably go for Leighton because of his 2010 performance, but at this point I wouldn't complain about either.
Was a big fan of getting Turco too, but that ship has sailed.
I would say Leighton. He has experience in playoff atmosphere and has proved he can take the reins for a few games and play well. I am still hoping that the giant pile of douche who is Garth Snow will let Nabby go to a better team, but i feel he will be asking for too much and the Wings won't bite.
P.S. I still think we should have picked up Emery or Turco last off season.
They'd better win tonight! I'm going to the game- my first NHL game ever (if you can still call a Coyotes game that, haha)- and I'll just be depressed for the rest of the week if they lose.
Oh, and Mac has been confirmed to be the starter tonight (per Helene St James on twitter)
i'm looking for datsyuk to get his game back on. he's been pretty average since just before the all star break (by his standards). zero points in ... id say, 5 games? just a guess.
