Good news coming from Khan(!) today...

Check out these lines for tomorrow's game against Phoenix:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary
Bertuzzi-Filppula-Miller (Franzen working in)
Draper-Helm-Eaves (Williams working in)
Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby (May working in)

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Lebda-Ericsson
Meech-Lilja (extras)

Howard (starting)
Osgood

Holy smokes is it good to see the word "extra" by Derek Meech's name.  I can guarantee you some of those death stare's from Babcock were accompanied by the thought "I can't wait until I can sit some of these guys".

Doctors must have waited until Laraque was out of the league before declaring it safe for Kronwall to return.  Man, it will be good to see #55 out there again. 

Anybody else notice what that little stinker on Saturday did to us?

Without even playing, the slumping Calgary Flames overtook us in the standings.  Awesome.

The St. Louis Blues ride into Alberta tonight at 9:30 PM EST.  If the Blues win, we're back in 8th place.  However, the Blues will pull within 4 points of us if they do so.  Ah, who cares?  I'll take the spot in the standings at this point.  Go Blues.

Another blown lead on Saturday...another loss to a team we should have beaten.  I don't know what's keeping this team from playing with a little urgency.  This is the most frustrating season I've experienced in a very long, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time.

Perhaps when we get all of our injured players back, this team can finally right itself and stay in the top eight in the Western Conference where it belongs.  The return of Kronwall might mean a decrease in Ericsson giveaways that always lead to goals.  The return of Jason Williams might mean the end of Derek Meech on the 2nd power-play unit.  The return of BOTH of those players will mean the end of Derek Meech altogether.  And when the Mule finally gets back in the lineup, we'll finally have a big gun out there who can score the clutch goals.  Here's what some of our wounded soldiers had to say to the Detroit News:

"It's been a tough run.  I'm just glad to be on the ice again. Now, I know it's getting really close. So just try to be out there as much as possible and do what I can. Right now, I can do everything and it feels really good day after day. It's a good sign. It's just a matter of getting the legs back and the lungs back. A few more practices and I should be good to go."--Niklas Kronwall

"I've been skating a couple times, three times this week with Willy and Kronner and just you get out there for a spin and stickhandling and stuff like that, nothing really serious skating.  It didn't feel that good. I can't really push away."--Tomas Holmstrom

"If I can get in and play sometime next week, that would be great.  That's something that I'm striving for. Each day I go out there, I feel better. I'd just like to get a couple practices underneath me where I'm banged around a little bit and taking some one-on-ones, some three-on-twos, and just sort of testing it out that way as well. I definitely feel a lot better, I feel confident in my skating and things like that. It's just the bumps and the grinds and things, I've got to see how that will react to it."--Jason Williams

It's getting close, my friends.  A full roster is on the horizon for the first time all season.  And when they all return, we'll learn what this season was really all about...patience, or delusion.

Were we right to say that it was all the injuries?  Will the team rally at full strength, make a great play-off push and climb the standings?  Or were we all kidding ourselves all along...

When asked about forwards like The Namesake, Patrick Eaves, and Drew Miller, here is what Coach Babcock told the Detroit News:

"We wouldn't have any wins if it weren't for those guys.  It's not like our big guys have been scoring like crazy."

Babbles certainly likes to wrap his compliments in insults.

Here's what Jimmy had to say about the game last night:

"This was a fun way to get two points.  They got lucky bounces, but for the most part, I thought we controlled the game. That's the name of the game -- bounces.  Some nights you get them and some nights you don't. We're walking out of here with two points and that's the key."

Amen.  And you walked out of there in a play-off position with a chance to leapfrog the very same team you play on Saturday.  Quite the opportunity, I would say.

The hero of the day was definitely Drew Miller, who is quickly becoming a fan favorite.  He had never even attempted a shoot-out in the NHL before last night.  And he ended up winning the game for us...

"When you are coming in, you see a certain part of the net and you just read and react.  We feel we've been playing real well and not getting the results we wanted. Getting one point isn't going to get us into the playoffs.  We need to be getting two points." --Drew Miller

He probably sprouted a few more pre-mature gray hairs when his number was called to shoot.  Regardless, the kid did his job, unlike his stupid older brother...but I'm not bitter.

Time to put the Kings in the rear-view mirror tomorrow where they belong.

Should Jimmy start tomorrow against LA?  I say:

"B-B-B-BRING IT ON B*TCHES!"

Last night was a tale of two Millers.  Our own, Drew Miller, scored the third Detroit goal in regulation and clinched the extra point with his shootout winner.  Buffalo's Ryan Miller, goaltender for the Buffalo Sabres and big brother to Drew, fell to the Los Angeles Kings in a game that would garuntee Detroit a spot in the top eight this morning.

But wait...what's this?

We still passed up the slumping Calgary Flames to crack the top eight thanks to our little brothers from the Windy City.  It's not a good time for hockey in the province of Alberta right now.

Five points out of 4th place and only 3 points behind the Predators for 2nd in the Division.  We'll see how Bubba fares against the Avalanche tonight.  Either way, Detroit is right in the thick of things now.

Think tomorrow's game against LA is big?

I think so too.

So these kinds of posts have been too far and too few between.  For those of you who don't remember or perhaps are new to NOHS, I like to browse our opponents' blogs and cherry-pick what I find to be entertaining comments after a Red Wings victory.  What better place to pull these from than from our old friends at Hockey Wilderness?

Let's start off by seeing what they thought about Bert's goal:

Bertuzzi, really? Are you f***ing serious…

Posted by redheadzeb on Jan 21, 2010 7:21 PM CST

God I hate Bertuzzi

Posted by TonyO on Jan 21, 2010 7:25 PM CST

And more than a half hour later...Minnesota fans are STILL hating them some Bertuzzi:

Khan(!) provides us with what we pretty much already knew yesterday...

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi
Cleary-Filppula-Miller
Draper-Helm-Eaves
Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby
May (scratched)

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Meech-Stuart
Lebda-Ericsson

Howard (starting)
Osgood

Apparently Draper smacked The Namesake in the face with shaving cream as a birthday prank.  Helm, who was screened by trainer Piet Van Zant, didn't know who the culprit was at the time Khan(!) posted the roster.

“When I find out, I’m going to get my justice.  It’ll definitely be worse than what the crime was.’’--Darren Helm

Oh Helmster, if only you knew of this blog's existence.

Title pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

The Namesake turns 23 today.  We could arguably see 15 more years of "Helm on Earth" in Hockeytown...if he has the longevity of Kris Draper.

You asked for it, here it is.  The injury report for the Wings as told by CBSSports.com...

These appear to be updated today...some of them anyway.  We know that Val already guaranteed us that he was playing tonight.  Kronwall participated in a full practice today, which is awesome.  J-Willz is still a little "iffy", but he'll be back soon enough and we can finally do away with Derek Meech on the 2nd PP.

Happy, Lauren?