Tonight's about one thing and one thing only, winning.  That's why #22 left Nashville and picked Detroit, even though he was rumored to have been offered more from the country music capital of the world.  He wanted to play for a winner.  

Hopefully Detroit can prove it tonight with a W. 

LGRW. 

There is little optimism for tonight's game with the way this team has played recently, but were Red Wings fans. We know that a few bumps in the road don't spell an end to the season, and so far things have gone ok all things considered.

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NOHS Note:  Twig took a long time this morning and pointed out why he thinks we should fire Babbles.  Here's my rebuttal...

Twig, I like you buddy, but I think you're nuts.   Completely, bat-sh!t insane.  Like keep this fella away from pointy objects, you're a regular Gary Busey insane. 

So, let's take a look at this. Step one - the standings.  You’ll find Detroit tied for the last playoff position in the West.  Not great, I agree.

Now take a look at the roster.  You won’t see the Cup contender roster that you are used to. You’ll see a roster that likely is a 5th-8th place team with a 12^th place defensive core.   Most of all, no Lidstrom. Forwards look decent though right?

Then take a look at the injury list.  Once your jaw can be picked up off the floor, look again and remember we’ve been playing this season with St. Louis’ sloppy seconds on defense and Grand Rapids making up our forward lines.

Suddenly, that 8^th place spot doesn’t look so bad.  In fact, with our defense, I’d say it looks pretty good.  Good enough that others are calling Babcock as a favorite to win the Jack Adams thus far. 

Hit the jump for more on Babcock and why he's doing an excellent job so far: 

Note:  Chris has posted a rebuttal to Twig's opinion on Babcock.  

My obligatory “Fire Babcock” post is long overdue. Seems to me the fan base is pretty divided on this issue, so the point of this is to educate the pro-Babs people on what we, the pro-Fire fans, are seeing game after game. A rebuttal post is in the works, so you’ll get to read both sides of the argument.

Before I get started, a quick disclaimer: I still think Babcock is a good coach, I just think he’s going through the motions and maybe a change would do both of us some good. Like when Ville Leino was traded away, then set rookie playoff scoring records with a new team. The talent was always there, but a change of scenery was required to get him back on track. I do think Babcock is still good, but I will argue after the jump that he’s just going through the motions at this point.

More after the jump:

Red Wings were the better team for about 55 minutes tonight, but lose 3-2 to the Wild. To say that the Wild dominated during those 5 minutes would be a stretch. The play was pretty even, but their shots went in. Mrazek looked a bit rattled after the 3rd goal, but didn't give up any more.

Hockey happens. That's my favorite phrase to use when explaining to someone how we ended up with 0 points after playing better than the winning team. Hockey happens.

More after the jump:

Wings enter today's game with the Wild with a two game losing streak and a bilgillion injuries to boot, including the great Datsyuk.  

BUT WAIT - I'M GETTING WORD THAT ITS GOING TO BE FINE.  MIKAEL SAMUELSSON IS BACK IN THE LINEUP.   PRAISE BE TO LARRY MURPHY'S HIPSTER GLASSES!

Yup, that's the good news going into the game tonight.  You can ignore the news that Helm and Franzen still aren't close to skating and Bertuzzi has been WALKING WITH A CANE.   Read that again if you need to.  Bertuzzi is walking with a CANE.  Cue the old team jokes immediately.  

Datsyuk is 50/50 to returning tonight, which is great news that he hasn't caught the full version of what Helm and Franzan have.  Mrazek starts in net, which will be interesting.  I liked what I saw so far.   

Disgusting Stat of the Day:  Kronwall is -6 over the past three games. 

But, in happier news, even with roughly 2/3 of the Wings looking worse than Joe Sakic after clearing the snow from his driveway, the Wild--you know, the team that  Zach Parise and Ryan Suter decided to spend the rest of their careers with only to have their cheap-ass owner immediately turn the table and shove a Gary Bettman sponsored knife into their backs--still find themselves two points behind the Griffins Red Wings.   The great Suter has zero goals and 8 assists so far, to go with a -4 +/- rating.  That's all-star stats there Ryan.  Makes me glad we didn't get stuck with that albatross of a contract for the next 11 or whatever years.   

Hit the jump for more: 

Certainly not the third period we were looking for. The effort was there most of the night, but turnovers were the Red Wings’ undoing in this game. The Ducks scored 4 of their 5 goals off of turnovers. Yes, injuries are a problem, but our key injuries are to forwards and the problem was on defense. Howard did what he could, but there were too many turnovers to overcome.

More after the jump:

The Wings need to get back to playing smart hockey. More and more players seem to be hurt each day which hasn't bothered me so much with the exception of Helm. That is until Franzen and Bertuzzi both went out. A lot of fans hate on both of these guys, mostly for not being god-like every night, now they get to see what life is like without the teams two top 6 big body anchors. It's not pretty, especially when your next options for size are Abby and Cleary.

Rumor is that a unnamed forward is hurt and could be out tonight. I'm not sure if said players name has been released, I just hope it's not Pav or Z.

Nyquist has been called up, but he won't start in the top 6, and I'm ok with that. I think he will give Detroit a solid third scoring line playing with Andersson and Tatar whom he has chemistry with from their time in GR.

I hope the top 6 can find some Magic between Pav and Fil, or Z and Brunner. I don't see their line mates being much help outside of maybe a few chances that they will likely flub. I see it going something like this.

"Filppula drops the puck to Datsyuk, Datsyuk drives the net and passes to a wide open Cleary! Who... Shoots it directly into Fasth's chest."

I kid, sorta...

Hit the jump for the poster and more pregame. 

This is Petr Mrazek, who may or may not be the future staring netminder for the Detroit Red Wings. Today he turns 21 years old and can now legally consume vodka-OJs, gamble and hang out with our friend Patrick Kane over the off-seasons.

Hit the jump for more birthday cheer.

Uggghhhh. Nice to get a point against a division team, but...

Okay, let us just get through this recap. This is painful for me (as I don't drink near as much as I used to weeknights).