Red Wings and Flames, the Day After Thanksgiving
NOW, WHERE WERE WE?
The Wings and Flames have already played this season. The Red Wings won 3-1 in Calgary on Halloween, starting a streak of three in a row (and 6 of 7). If they can start another string of games like that, it’d be swell. For the record, Ville Leino was the healthy scratch that night. Just sayin’…
WHAT’S HAPPENED SINCE THEN?
The Red Wings have gone 6-4-1 since the beginning of October. The Flames are 7-2-2 in the same span. Nik Kronwall severly sprained his left MCL against Montreal, and Rene Bourque sustained an “upper body” injury on November 19th.
OH, HI AGAIN
There are no former Red Wings on the Calgary Flames. Forward Dave Moss is from Livonia. He has the distinct pleasure of graduating high school with me.
MEMBA ME?!
The Flames were one of the 18 teams that Brad Stuart has played for in his short career. The One Whose Name Dare Not Be Spoken played 66 games for the Flames last year – the longest he’s lasted on any new team since the lockout.
BEST NAME NOMINEE
Nigel Dawes. You feel like he should be British. But he’s a black guy from Winnipeg. Awesome.
DID YOU KNOW…
Jarome Iginla has twice as many goals (16) as the next highest scorer – Daymond Langkow.
THEIR LAST GAMES
–Detroit was shutout by Atlanta 2-0 on Wednesday.
–Calgary defeated Sir Gary’s Desert Dogs 2-1 on Wednesday.
RECORDS
–Detroit Red Wings :: 11-8-4 (4th in Central, 10th in West) :: 7-3-2 at home.
–Calgary Firehorses :: 14-6-3 (2nd in Northwest, 5th in West) :: 7-1-3 on road.
EXPECTED LINEUP
I have to assume that its Chris Osgood’s start, as its his turn in the faux-rotation they’ve got going on at the moment. I haven’t heard or read which player will be the healthy scratch, but I assume it’s Brad May’s turn in that rotation, as well.
TOWNDNBS — Datsyuk — Holmstrom
Leino — Zetterberg — Cleary
Draper — Helm — Eaves
Miller — Abdelkader — Maltby
Lidstrom — Rafalski
Ericsson — Stuart
Meech — Lebda
Osgood
Howard
Scratch
Brad “Ineffective” May
Injuries
Andreas “Bocellis” Lilja
Johan “Sebastien Bach” Franzen
Valtteri “No One Else Famous is Named Valtteri” Filppula
Jason “Voorhees is the First Jason That Comes Up on Google” Williams
Niklas “and Friends” Kronwall
QUICK THOUGHTS
1. The Flames rock on the road. They have one of the best records in the league away from their own barn, and that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
2. I have to imagine — or at least I hope that — Detroit plays a tad better than they did on Wednesday.
3. There are a few guys who really, REALLY, desperately need to score soon. If they all do, we can expect the final score to be 16-1.
4. Having the Alberta flag on your shoulder is retarded.
5. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope the Red Wings have all the tryptophan out of their systems.
WHAT WE LEARNED vs. the Thrashers
The Red Wings had not, in fact, hit rock bottom on Monday.
FLAME WE COVET
Mike Cammalleri. Oh wait. I picked him when we played the Canadiens. It’s a cop-out to pick Jarome Iginla, even though he’s one of the most complete players in the game, and Miikka Kiprusoff is the obvious choice for a team with questionable goaltending. I’m going to go completely off the board and pick Fredrik Sjostrom, who was the fastest skater in his draft class. I really like Dave Moss’s game, too. He’s a hell of a hockey player and would love to see him in a hometown uniform one day.