Mar 20 :: The News (the kind from the 80s)
What’s that black guy doing near Huey Lewis?
WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN?
Happy Birthday, Valtteri Filppula. Our little boy’s all groweds up. Celebrate by watching the Red Wings and Canucks. 10pm, Saturday.
H2H IMPLICATIONS
Each goal tonight is worth at least $20.90.
Matching TPL’s pledge of $2 per goal tonight are Drew from Nightmare on Helm Street, Rob from Etched in Cold, Jennbikegirl, Brad Boswell, SigSegFalt, and Sara from A Neuie Perspective. Mike Serven has pledged $5 per goal and my pops is dropping 10% of the grand total.
A win is worth at least $95.70.
Vicky Bash has pledged $26 per win, Baroque $20 (for tonight), Mike Serven $19, Andy from Fight Night at the Joe $9, Nurse Nitz $5, CaptNorris5 $5, Ben from Below the Crossbar $3. Plus the same 10%. Krononymous will donate an extra $5 for a shutout.
WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
1. Son of a bitch, two points against the NHL’s worst would have been nice. Now the Wings are forced to play overachievers against a top three club.
2. Mikael Samuelsson, who is having a career year (the nets must be bigger in BC), is out for the next three weeks with a shoulder injury, so we won’t be seeing him tonight. Let’s hope the doctor has better aim with that scalpel than Sammy does from the point!
3. Vancouver has the third best home record in the league. So…ya know. Enjoy.
5. Colorado :: 86 pts (12 GR)
6. Los Angeles :: 85 pts (13 GR) [play the Islanders tonight]
7. Nashville :: 85 pts (11 GR) [play Columbus tonight]
8. Detroit :: 81 pts (12 GR)
9. Calgary :: 81 pts (11 GR)
NOW WHERE WERE WE?
The Wings and Nucks played earlier this month, meeting on the 3rd. The final score was 6-3 Vancouver, and Howard was yanked after 32 minutes (and four goals). Scoring for the good guys were Zetterberg, Franzen, and Williams.
OH, HI AGAIN / MEMBA ME?! / BEST NAME NOMINEE
Here we go again:
:: Mikael Samuelsson is a former Wing, but he’s not playing tonight.
:: Todd Bertuzzi (and Brad May) used to play in Vancouver.
:: BNN is Tanner Glass
THEIR LAST GAMES
–Detroit somehow lost to the Edmonton Taylor Halls, 3-2, in a shootout, last night.
–Vancouver beat San Jose (of COURSE they did), 3-2, on Thursday.
RECORDS
–Detroit Red Wings :: 34-23-13 (3rd in Central, 8th in West) :: 15-13-8 on the road.
–Vancouver Hockey-Stick-in-an-Ovals :: 44-24-3 (1st in Northwest, 3rd in West) :: 26-8-1 at home.
CANUCKS SHOULD KNOW
Cam Neely (way to go, Vancouver) :: Igor Larionov (way to go, Vancovuer) :: Mark Messier (way to go, Vancouver) :: Trevor Linden (way to go, Vancouver) :: Markus Naslund (way to go, Vancouver) :: Pavel Bure (way to go, Vancouver) :: Dan Cloutier (way to go, Vancouver)
EXPECTED LINEUP
Eaves is out with a cefalgia, and Jonathan Ericsson is supposedly being considered to suck at forward tonight instead of defense. To be fair, he was originally a center in Sweden, so maybe he’ll find his calling. Because he sure as hell hasn’t found it on the blueline. Naturally, I’d assume Brett Lebda will be back in on D.
Franzen — Datsyuk — Holmstrom
Filppula — Zetterberg — Cleary
Bertuzzi — Miller — Williams
Draper — Helm — Ericsson
Lidstrom — Rafalski
Kronwall — Stuart
Lebda — Lilja
Howard (starts)
Osgood
Because Hollis is my boy, and he was the first respondent to my Twitter request, we’ve got some Huey Lewis and the News comin’ atcha.
Scratches
Derek “Don’t Need Money” Meech
Derek “Don’t Take Fame” Meech
Derek “Don’t Need No Credit Card to Ride This Train” Meech
Injuries
Kirk “If This Is It” Maltby
Patrick “Doing It All” Eaves
Honorable Mentions
Tomas “Heart and Soul” Holmstrom
Jonathan “Hot Lovin’ Every Night” Ericsson
Todd “Stuck With You” Bertuzzi
Darren “Here, There, and Everywhere” Helm
Jimmy “It’s Hip to Be Square” Howard
Marian “DC, San Antone and the Liberty Town, Boston and Baton Rouge” Hossa
Bobby “I Want a New Drug” Probert
Brian “One That Won’t Make Me Sick” Rafalski
Sergei “One That Won’t Make Me Crash My Car” Fedorov
Niklas “Or Make Me Feel Three Feet Thick” Kronwall
QUICK THOUGHTS
1. Well, we’ve half buggered ourselves not picking up both points against the Oilers. The Wings have no choice but to get a win — regulation or not — tonight.
2. Pavel, Z, and Franzen are on notice. Two thirds of them have been playing well, but more should have come from all three last night.
3. Vancouver’s offense is second only to Washington, so expect lots of pucks. Jimmy Howard, starting for the 18th straight game, should be prepared to stop more (and better quality) opportunities than 24 hours ago.
4. Speaking of which, the blueline needs to step it up — not that they haven’t been effective, but a misstep tonight is likely a puck in the twine.
5. Missing Patrick Eaves hurts. He’s a top-notch shot blocker, a good penalty killer, and an excellent transition guy. Missing those tangibles, not to mention the energy and grinding, might show up against a strong team like Vancouver.
WHAT WE LEARNED against the Oilers
Long Island extends a lot further West and North than I thought it did.
CANUCK WE COVET (JJ Special)
For tonight's game, I'd like to pledge $20 for every Flip goal (Today's his birthday…and he's due)
And, if Mr Rig does play forward and happens to score (that would be AWESOME!!) I will throw in $52.
Ow, I think I got eyecrabs from clicking on the Situation. Thanks.
I now have cefalgia. Big Rig as forward. Oy vez. AND he's skating with Drapes and Helmsy. Big Rig is going to be like the cousin you always had to take with you when you went out with your friends in high school. You know, the one with the go funny eye and the back brace. Always slowing down your game.
Great, now I have Huey Lewis and the News tunes running through my head – Jacob's Ladder in particular for some reason.
@Ma — Those are awesome pledges. I'll damn near plotz if Ericsson scores.
@Dena — I don't know for sure that Ericsson is skating with those two, I just removed Eaves and replaced him. But I hear ya… cefalgia all around.
@Baroque — I am, by no means, familiar with Huey Lewis. But, most of those songs were songs I sorta knew. Jacob's Ladder is the one I was totally unaware of.
Flip loves the children, as he scores on his birthday!
C'mon, Big Rig, you love children too, don't you?
Lyrics: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/h/huey+lewis+and+the+news/jacobs+ladder_20066244.html
this is my new favorite website on the internet =)
http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=88841&page=28
All I can say is that I had a ton of people over and even though the game was on the big screen, I didn't see much except for the score. I did get everyone to sit tight during OT – thank you Hank for not making us loose to Bobby Lu in a shoot out!
I actually have to also say "thanks" to the NHL Network as they are replaying the game this afternoon (why didn't I record it?). I am now dying of curiosity to see Big Rig as a forward.