Let's take a look at last night's scores shall we?

• NSH vs FLA - Oh...what a surprise, no help from the East with Nashville yet again.  They don't call them the Leastern conference for nothing.  According to Petrella's Twitter yesterday: @mpetrella Six Eastern teams with a winning record vs. West. There are 13 West teams over .500 vs. East.Ridiculous, and I suppose we should give up all hope in receiving any help when a Leastern Conference team plays anyone of significance in the West.  Have I said that before?  Probably.
• LAK vs MIN - Thatta boy, Pinky!  Los Angeles can now wave that game in-hand bye-bye as we remain a point ahead of them in the standings while drawing even in games played.  And it's all because of the Wild beating them in regulation.  MGD deuce-deuces, pinky rings, and terrible Judge Smails hats on me (you get the free bowl of soup as well)!
• DAL vs ANA - This game didn't mean much.  But of course, the team that I didn't want to win, won.  So Monday's games went one for three in terms of the way I wanted them to finish.

So after last night's let down in Ft. Lauderdale, here's how the Standings pan out going into tonight's action...

Bubba just refuses to budge, but we can still overtake them when it's all said and done.  They're only three points clear of us and we have two, yes two games in-hand on them.  So if we can win both of those games we will still pass them up in points.  Tying in points is no good since they have more wins.  But we have to play the lowly Oilers tonight, a team that we have yet to defeat this year.

There's a first time for everything...let's hope the Edmonton plane gets Eavesed on the runway at Detroit Metro.  No serious injury, I'm not sadistic...just a little something to take their mind off of tonight's contest.

Thanks again, Eastern Conference.  You suck.

I can't recall who came up with the nickname, but for me, The Draper-Helm-Eaves Line has been called the "Little Red Corvettes Line" for most of the season now.  Great straight-away speed and handles well in corners...is there a better description/metaphor?  This line has been our most consistent line all season long.  And now, they're being broken up, thanks to Danny Cleary's groin.

The Free Pressis reporting that Derek Meech will step in and play with The Namesake and Patrick Eaves tonight against the Oilers.  The move makes some sense, because Miller and Williams desperately needed a natural center.

Patrick Eaves seems to think pretty highly of Meech:

"It's huge for us to have him.  He brings a lot of speed, and he can hit hard and shoot the puck. He's tenacious. He really helps our line. We're very fortunate he can step in and not miss a beat."

Brings lots of speed?  Hits hard?  Shoots the puck?  Have we seen him do any of these things all that well this year?  I wouldn't say that Meech is slow, I don't recall him hitting any one in particular, and his shot doesn't seem like anything to be feared.  But I suppose you could say that about most 4th line forwards / 7th or 8th defensemen in the NHL.  Meech plays his best games when you don't really notice him out there...kind of like Lija.

"Attitude is everything.  He's making the best of a situation that at times hasn't been very positive for him. Would he like to play 20 minutes a night and play on the D every night? He would, and ideally one day it'll work out. ... But right now to help us, that's not his role, but he's been positive all the time, even when he doesn't play."--Mike Babcock

Well, a good attitude goes a long way with me.  So I'm not going to judge this move until I see the results out on the ice this evening.  Just try to keep up, Derek...ok?

It happens every year.  As sure as the Western road to the Stanley Cup leads through Detroit, the inevitable collapse of the San Jose Sharks.  Time and time again the Sharks prove that Evgeni Nabokov can't win the big game, that Jumbo Joe Thornton doesn't have the heart to match his body, and that Patrick Marleau couldn't lead his team out of a brown paper bag.

Why should this year be any different?  Did you see Nabokov play in the Olympic Game versus Canada?  You think Dany Heatley's half-hearted play plus Joe Thornton's half-hearted play would equal a whole heart?  Do you think that taking Marleau's "C" away was going to do diddly-squat?

And you know what?  The San Jose fans must be sick to death of it.  Can you imagine if all the regular season glory of Detroit came with absolutely nothing to show for it.  Remember how much that 1995 President's Trophy meant after getting waxed in the Finals by New Jersey?  Now imagine that they never even made it to the Stanley Cup Finals...ever.  It would be hard being a fan for a team like that wouldn't it?  Well guess what?  It doesn't seem to be all that pleasant for the media members either.

Why even bring this up?  Because I have the NHL Network, and on this NHL Network is a program called "Frozen In Time".  Today's episode showcased the 2009 Play-offs.  You know the one I'm talking about, where the President Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks bowed out in the first round to the Anaheim Ducks.  Not only did the program show the on-ice replays of the series.  But the post-game interviews after the series clinching sixth game.  And that's where things got (even more) amusing...

Doesn't look like this media member is too impressed with what Evgeni Nabokov has to say.  In fact it looks like he wants to shove on of those microphones up Nabby's corn shoot.  I'm guessing that Nabokov would have seen a few of these glances back in Russia if TV feeds went both ways.  And all I could say aloud was "Man, that guy looks pissed."

But that's not all.  Just moments later, they showed the interview with Patrick Marleau...

"Oh my god, there he is again!"  He looks just as amused with what the future ex-captain of the Sharks had to say.  One could assume that the death stare of this reporter (which looks as if it could burn through lead) captures the collective feelings of all San Jose fans.  And it makes me laugh.

Not much to do with Detroit...that is unless we draw them in the first round this year.  How many members of that organ-i-zation are looking forward to that match-up?  How many fans?  Do you think this guy would be happy about that?  I'm not sure if he's been happy about anything since the day these photos were taken.

Not much action as we all probably have our first full day work/school after a glorious H2H weekend.  For all of those who did not attend, make arrangements next year, no matter what the cost.

Here are the three games being played tonight in the Western Conference...

• NSH vs FLA - This is obviously a no-brainer.  We're only one point behind Nashville and they refuse to get on an even keel with us in games played.  If they lose this game in regulation, we'll be only one point behind with two games in-hand. GO PANTHERS
• LAK vs MIN - As much as it pains me to root for a team supported by Pinky, this is a pretty easy call as well.  With Los Angeles having a game-in hand on us and being a single point back (basically the bizzaro NSH situation), we need Pinky's Wild to take out the Kings, in regulation.  Hope we made them angry at H2H.  GO WILD
• DAL vs ANA - This game doesn't mean much.  Neither of these teams are going to catch us in the standings.  Thank the lord, we won't have to go through another "they can't call them all" series against the Ducks.  But I do hate Perry and Getzlaf more than I hate Ott and Ribiero. Go Stars (no need to capitalize).

Tonight's going to be a rough one for me.  I took last week off from basically all physical activity which means that Chris Tamer is probably going to beat the crap out of me at our workout session tonight (not literally, as happened to many NHL players--look him up).

Here's hoping that Dan Cleary's concussed groin heals up and fully.  I know he's not playing tomorrow as a precaution, and I can't say I disagree with that call.

...and I thought that finding ONE movie poster with "Edmonton" or "Oil" was tough...now I have to do another one.

It's already started...

It's been used over 25 times already on Twitter.  Used by Red Wing internet All-Stars such as mserven, mpetrella, HTstatic, and SnipeDangle.

The term is "Eavesed" referring to...whatever the hell it was that Patrick Eaves was trying to pull of on Saturday's shoot-out attempt and landing flat on his face.  Move over "Wideman goes wide"...there's a new kid in town.

They're still laughing about in on the team as well, as per the Free Press:

“I was dying laughing.  It was hilarious. There is no other way to describe it. I just got caught in a rut or something and toe-picked it, went airborne and slid into the corner, laughing. When I got back to the bench, it took everyone a second to stop laughing. There was a big celebration when I got back to the bench and in the locker room – we probably celebrated more about that than if I would have actually scored. It was pretty funny.”--Patrick Eaves

I laughed...but it was a nervous laugh.  Because if he had cost us the game by pulling that crap...I wouldn't be joking around about it today.

"He said he's an entertainer.  He said he was doing it for the boys."--Derek Meech

Babcock, whom I don't remember seeing right after it happened, but I'd be very curious to see what kind of expression he had on his face at the time, had this to say:

“What I liked best is that he was laying on the ice, smiling. That’s what life is about – you get out there and you give it everything you’ve got. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you get up, you have a smile on your face, you get ready to do it again. I mean, he toe-picked on the one foot, then he toe-picked on the second foot, and that’s what happened right there. But he pumped him good. It was a good opportunity. You know, he might have a torn ego, or something like that, but he’ll be all right. He’ll keep going.”

As long as that's all that got torn on that play.

So the next time you stumble out of an elevator, or better yet see someone elsetake an embarrassing tumble at an inappropriate time, make sure you tell them that they just "Eavesed" and add a little confusion to their humiliation.

TSN has recognized the storm brewing in Detroit.  The Red Wings are starting to make the rest of the West very, very nervous.  Here is TSN's latest Power Ranking for Detroit...

We are only 8 points back from Chicago now, and it's been a long, long time time since I've been able to say that.  Here's a bold statement for you: Chicago fans have been secretly cheering for Detroit to win these last few games.  Why?  Because they don't want us in the first round.  We all know San Jose doesn't want us in the first round.

Someone is going to have to draw the short straw.  This team is going to make some noise come play-off time.

The Mule is back.  In front of Herm, and many of The 19, he put up a four point night on Saturday against Pinky's Wild...and it was a thing of beauty.  What a heroic return from what could have been a season-ending injury way back in October when he injured his ACL against the Blackhawks.

According to detroitredwings.com, the Red Wings are 12-4-3 this season with Franzen in the lineup.  That's a 63% winning percentage and a 78% "we get at least one point" percentage when #93 laces them up.

That could mean, that if we had Franzen all along, in 82 games this year, we could have finished the 82 game season with a 52-17-13 record.  That's 117 points is likely, going to be enough such that we would have earned top spot in the Western Conference.

Franzen has 9 goals and 6 assists in 20 games played (which doesn't add up if you look at the record provided by redwings.com).  But what that means is that he's scoring a goal in 45% of the games that he plays in and adding an assist in 30% of the games.  So, again theoretically, in a normal 82 game season, Franzen should haveaccumulated 37 goals and 25 assists for a total of 62 points.  That would likely put him in 3rd on the team behind Zetterberg and Datsyuk.

Regardless of all the "woulda, coulda, shoulda"'s that are...it's nice to have him back and producing as usual.

We've been waiting since...well since the start of the season for Detroit to be playing like this.  Stockholm was a disaster and even though we had some impressive early season victories against Chicago and San Jose, consistency (or the lack thereof) has been the bane of Detroit's post-season existence up until the Olympic Break.  Some have been more patient than others.

But now, after going 11-2-1 since the break, things are finally starting to click.  Here's what some of the players told the Free Press:

"We got guys back and they got comfortable, and they got back into their regular role of playing.  We knew when that would happen, good things would happen. We've hit that effort now, a pretty good stride, and had some success and are making a pretty good push now."--Drew Miller

And once again, what a great find Drew Miller was.  Thank you, Tampa Bay for waiving him and letting us bring the Michigan native back home.  Miller has been one of those ham and egg, hard hat kind of guys that helped us fight through all of the injuries, and has found a more defined depth-player role now that we're (mostly) healthy again (poor Kirk).

"We've played better and more consistent.  I think after the Olympics, we knew we had to do this, otherwise we wouldn't be in the playoffs.  During the year, we kind of just went, 'Oh, we'll pick it up, we'll pick it up.' But now we really knew that if we want to be in the postseason, we have to win a lot of games. It was a little challenge, and I think that's sometimes what you need."--Henrik Zetterberg

Yes, the Swedes coming back pissed off from the Olympics probably helped.  Especially Tomas Holmstrom, who had to watch his team bow out so early on TV, was probably frothing at the mouth.  Franzen, who took his spot, was able to stay healthy and get used to playing in full games.  One Swede got the rest he so desperately needed to heal up, one Swede got to get back into game-shape...it worked out perfectly.

"I think we're really starting to show how we want to be playing the game, like we have in the past few years here.  We're playing more quickly on defense -- anytime anyone gets into our zone, we've been doing a better job of getting to the puck and making that first tape-to-tape pass a lot quicker. So instead of spending 30-40 seconds in your own zone, now we're on offense instead much quicker. Howie has been playing great for us -- some nights when we haven't been playing our best, he still has given us a chance."--Nik Kronwall

Kronner made sure that we still have at least one player who is 100% career-wise in shootouts after Miller hit the post in his attempt against Nashville.

And how about Jimmy Howard?

Fourth in overall Save Percentage and third overall in Goals Against.  Rask is kind of the outlier because he hasn't played in nearly as many games.  Plus, Rask and Miller and Voukoun for that matter all play in the Leastern Conference.  So not only is Jimmy going to be a finalist for the Calder Trophy (as I was chanting during the H2H game...before that second goal went in), but he could feasibly be a finalist for the Vezina this year.  No way in hell he wins, but to finish in the top three would be outstanding.

B-b-b-b-bring on that Calder trophy.

...to beat the slumping Los Angeles Kings tonight in regulation.  Now that Detroit has ascended all the way to 6th place in the Western Conference...

...we can stay where we are if LA drops the game in hand that have over us.  I'm not going to surf through and find the old post where I said that we would end up ahead of Denver in the standings just to link to it, but I just had a gut feeling that those mountain boys weren't going end up with a higher seed.

We're also hoping that Vokoun and the rest of the Florida Panthers can pull an upset against The Predators tonight.  A regulation loss for Nashville and a 'W' tomorrow against the Oilers for Detroit, and we will have moved all the way up to fifth place in the Conference.

Score watching doesn't suck so much anymore...in fact, now it gets a little interesting.

Via Khan(!) ...

Here's tonight's lineup:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Filppula-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi
Draper-Helm-Eaves
Williams-Miller-Meech

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lilja

No Dan Cleary tonight.  Hopefully it's not too bad, but you know what they say about those concussed groins; once it happens the first time, you're more susceptible to further groin concussions.  A win tonight could possibly send us into fifth place in the West.

Still recovering from last night.  I'll provide more details when my brain cells grow back...what's that?  They don't grow back?  Mother******.

We haven't had a five game winning streak all season, but there's no time like the present.  Just keep remembering what Erat said, Hank.

Continue to shut him up....hard.