Mar 30 :: You Better Love Somebody!

WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN?
Edmonton Oilers at Detroit Red Wings. 7:30pm, the final Wings Wings Tuesday of the Regular Season.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
1. Detroit is riding a season-best five game win streak into this game, and find themselves positioned nicely in sixth place. Amazing what a tiny run will do, ain’t it?
2. Edmonton has officially been eliminated from playoff contention and their pro-shop is already making blue and orange Taylor Hall jerseys.
3. Jimmy Howard is starting his 23rd game in a row a few days after being named the NHL’s #2 Star of the Week, thanks to going 4-0-0 with a 1.22 goals against average and .958 save percentage. Suck it, Roy Edwards!

THE SITUATION
5 :: Nashville :: 94 points (5 games left)
6 :: Detroit :: 91 points (7 games left)
7 :: Los Angeles :: 90 points (7 games left)
8 :: Colorado :: 89 points (7 games left)
9 :: Calgary :: 85 points (6 games left)

NOW WHERE WERE WE?
The Oilers were the last team to defeat the Red Wings (in fact, the Wings have to win tonight to avoid being swept on the season by the Oilers). The 3-2 shootout loss came on March 19th.

OH HI AGAIN / MEMBA ME?! / BEST NAME NOMINEE
Wash, Rinse, Repeat!
 :: Both injured Wings – Cleary and Maltby – are former Oilers.
 :: There are no former Wings
 :: Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers

THEIR LAST GAMES
–Detroit defeated Nashville, 1-0, in a shootout on Saturday. James Tiberius IV was named Pope of Chilitown.
–Edmonton lost to St. Louis, 2-1, on Sunday.

RECORDS
–Detroit Red Wings :: 39-23-13 (3rd in Central, 6th in West) :: 22-10-5 at home.
–Edmonton Oilers :: 24-44-7 (5th in Northwest, 15th in West) :: 8-25-3 on the road.

OILERS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Daniel Plainview

EXPECTED LINEUP
Franzen — Datsyuk — Holmstrom
Bertuzzi — Zetterberg — Filppula
Miller — Draper — Williams
Eaves — Helm — Meech

Lidstrom — Rafalski
Kronwall — Stuart
Ericsson — Lilja

Howard (starting)
Osgood

I promised my mother I’d do a Rick Springfield-themed post the next time Jonathan Ericsson scored, clearly thinking I was safe until AT LEAST 2011. But, alas, with us all in the stands, Rig (probably accidentally..NAY..Ericssonianly) tipped one in, and I’m a man of my word. Not much of one, but still.
Scratch
Brett “Loving You Has Been Hard On Me” Lebda
Injuries
Kirk “Working Class Dog” Maltby
Dan “Hard to Hold” Cleary
Honorable Mentions
Todd “Don’t Talk to Strangers” Bertuzzi — or
Todd “You’re Gonna Pull You Just A Little Too Far…One Night” Bertuzzi
Jonathan “Speak to the Sky” Ericsson — or
Jonathan “Affair of the Heart” Ericsson (YOU’RE WELCOME, MOM)
Darren “Bop til You Drop” Helm
Jimmy “Celebrate Youth” Howard
Chris “Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet” Osgood
Valtteri “And I’ve Been Lookin’ in the Mirror All the Time” Filppula
Derek “Wonderin’ What She Don’t See In Me” Meech
Kris “I’ve Been Funny” Draper
Henrik “I’ve Been Cool with the Lines” Zetterberg
Nicklas “Ain’t That the Way Love’s Supposed to Be” Lidstrom

QUICK THOUGHTS
1. If James Howard and the defense in front of him keep playing, like they have been — and the offense is firing on all cylinders, like the Wild game — I won’t poopoo weak bouncing Owen Nolan goals from the blueline. But if the offense can’t muster (i.e. Saturday), weak goals won’t cut it. Tiberius seems to have been working on his rebounds (thank the Christ), so how goes J-Ho, so go the Wings.
2. That Z’Fliptuzzi line still looks good. Seven games to get three goals, Todd. Countdown has begun.
3. You know who looks good lately? Drew Miller. Let’s see where that goes…
4. The Oilers have next to nothing to play for, so if we can escape with a win, and no injuries, I’ll be thrilled.
5. Now that Detroit making a bit of a run, I can’t wait to watch Colorado crash and burn after fucking us a few weeks ago. It looks like Calgary has just about given up on the season, but I’d laugh so hard at Denver if failed to make the playoffs after that “CRAIG ANDERSSON IS THE GREATEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD OMFGLOL!” thing earlier this year.
6. If you haven’t been over there yet today, check out my Winging it in Motown post where I dump the Eastern Conference on it’s cheating ass.

WHAT WE LEARNED vs. the Predators
It ain’t the Wings goaltending that sucks in the shootout.

OILER WE COVET (JJ Special)
A huge Production Line congratulations to JJ from Kansas and his lovely wife, who welcomed their first daughter, Emma, into Red Wings Nation. This is the first pre-game we’ve done since she was born on Wednesday, and since this is hers section to inherit one day, we dedicate tonight’s game to the lovely Emma.