Dec. 6 :: She’s Beautiful, She’s Rich, She’s Got Huge Tracts of Land

WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN?
The Wings and Sharks meet for the second time in less than a week, Monday night, 7:30pm on Versus.

WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA?
After taking five of six possible points during the West Coast road swing, the Red Wings return home for the first of three at the Joe.

NOW WHERE WERE WE?
Detroit was in San Jose last Tuesday, taking the W by a score of 5-3. Goals were scored by Cleary, Datsyuk, Eaves (who’s back in the lineup), and a pair by Zetterberg.

OH, HI AGAIN / MEMBA ME?!
We just did this, so a refresher: McLellan used to behind the Wings bench, and Brad Stuart used to be ON the Sharks bench.

THEIR LAST GAMES
:: Detroit succumbed to overtime during the second half of a back-to-back, dropping a 3-2 decision to the Kings on Saturday.
:: San Jose committed the ultimate sin of an alleged contender: losing to an L’Eastern Conference team (3-1 to the Canadiens on Saturday). And, no, I don’t recall playing Atlanta.

EXPECTED LINEUP
Zetterberg — Datsyuk — Homer
Thunderchief — Flip — Mulo
Buckets — Gator — Scuttles
Miller — Helm — Eaves

Lidstrom — Stuart
Rafalski — Ericsson
Cirque — Kronwall

Tiberius
Osgood

Scratches
Jakub “Let Me Have Just a Little Bit of Peril?” Kindl
Kris “She Turned Me Into a Newt! …I Got Better” Draper

Injuries
Mike “Just a Flesh Wound” Modano [wrist]

Honorable Mentions
Todd “Every Time I Try to Talk to Someone it’s ‘Sorry This’ and ‘Forgive  Me That'” Bertuzzi
Todd “I Fart In Your General Direction!” Bertuzzi
Jiri “You’ve Got No Arms Left!” Hudler
Ville “Now Go Away or I Shall Taunt You a Second Time” Leino
Aaron “Looks Like There’s Dirty Work Afoot” Downey

THE FIVE HOLE
1. Kris Draper takes a seat in the press box after returning to the lineup to play just over five minutes on Saturday. Patrick Eaves will be back in — somehow sparing Jiri Hudler from the Leino Lounge for another day.
2.  Jimmy Howard returns to the lineup after a strong first showing of the season for Chris Osgood. Howard went 10-2-1 during Osgood’s injury and received a well-earned rest this past weekend. Chances are good we’ll see Ozzie again as there are four games on the calendar this week.
3. Who’s going to impress me from the blueline tonight? First it was Ericsson… then it was Salei… then it was Stuart. I’m looking at you, Kronwall.
4. I’m rocking my Shirtuzzi tonight. It’s 1-0 on the season (TPL shirts in general are 2-1, WIM shirts are 2-0). How are your TPL shirts faring? Also… are you enjoying being famous?
5. Off-Wing: congratulations to long-time badass Bill Guerin, who announced earlier today that he was retiring from hockey. Despite having spent time with some evil clubs during his 18-year career (such as the ’95 Devils that trounced the Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, the early-00’s Stars, and the ’09 Penguins) — he was a player I always admired while winning two Cups and appearing in three Olympics. Fare thee well, Mr. Guerin — enjoy the next stage of your life.

WHAT WE LEARNED AGAINST THE KINGS
Period number seven in 27 hours is a bit tricky.