Mar. 30 :: Midwest Swing

WHAT’S POPPIN’ TONIGHT?
The Red Wings and Blues saddle up and put spurs on their Air Force One’s tonight at Joe Louis Arena. Puck drops at 7:30pm Eastern.

SAY NOW, CAN YOU HOES COME OUT TO PLAY NOW?
This is the sixth and final time these two teams will tangle this year. The Motown boys have had their way with the crew from the MI crooked letter, crooked letter, taking furr of the five matchups this year. The last time was a 5-3 win in the ‘Lou, witnessed by the H2H2 crew at The Detroit Pub.

WHO THAT IS? (BNN)
Kevin Shattenkirk in a landslide.

THEIR LAST GAMES
:: Detroit followed script and lost 3-2 to Chicago on Monday.
::The Lou fell to Minnesota last night in the skills competition, 3-2.

EXPECTED LINEUP
By special request, the TPL Glossary is ready to jailsex your eyes.
Cleary — Zetterberg — Hudler
Franzen— Filppula — Bertuzzi
Holmstrom — Modano — Abdelkader
Miller — Helm — Eaves

Lidstrom — Stuart
Kronwall — Ericsson
Kindl — Rafalski

Joey Mac
McCollum

OH GOOD, THERE ARE INJURIES
Jimmy Howard [Shoulder]
Chris Osgood [Who Knows]
Pavel Datsyuk [lower body]

HOLY SHIT, SCRATCHES?!?!
Ruslan Salei
Kris Draper

The TPL Name Game ”Three Stars”
Disch: Dan “All Money Ain’t Good Money but No Money Ain’t Good” Ellis
Petrella: Brett “I Got a Real Bad Habit, What I Want I Grab It, So Many Karats in the Ring, I’m Half Man, Half Rabbit” Lebda
Hollis: Pavel “You Can Tell By the Way I Walk I Ain’t From ‘Round Hurr” Datsyuk

BONUS!

Petrella: Todd “Where I Got Em You Can Spot ‘Em, On the Top and On the Bottom. Gotta Bill in my Mouf Like I’m Hilary Rodham” Bertuzzi
Hollis: Jiri “Quarter Rubber, Quarter Dick, Other Half In Yo’ Chick” Hudler

*Now it’s up to you! Think up your best names and throw them in the comments — the best one will be shared for all to enjoy on the TPL Facebook Page. The best of the best will be pitted against one another at season’s end, and the winner takes home a TPL Shirt of their choice.*

TIDBITS
:: With a win tonight, Detroit can officially eliminate the Blues from playoff contention, which would be a pleasant change from a team that has struggled to assert their dominance this season. Errbody’s watchin, time to pull the heat, Wings. UPDATE: Nerrmind. The Hawks have one more win than the Blues, so even if they tie in points, St. Louie is out.
:: The Blues find themselves a bit shorthanded tonight, with Barret Jackman and David Perron suffering from injuries and T.J. Oshie serving time in the Leino Lounge for hitting the snooze button one too many times earlier this week. No matter, Oshie still don’t curr, he ain’t cuttin’ his hurr.
:: It’s the Joey Mac show yet again tonight, as he’ll make his 15th appearance of the season between the pipes. So far, so good for the Mac Attack, who is rocking a 2.13 GAA and .928 save percentage. He did everything he could to keep the Wings in the game against Chicago, making 38 saves despite the eventual loss in extra time.
:: The slump looks to finally be over for Henrik Zetterberg, who has scored in consecutive games and has 5 goals in his last seven contests. Hank is also leading the way for the Wings against the Lou this season, with 8 points over the five game series. On the flip side, somebody should probably cover Patrik Berglund tonight, given that he’s posted 3 goals and 6 points against the Wings this year. WILD CARD: Drew Miller is back after being a healthy scratch. You know what that means…
:: PREDICTION — Wings 4, Blues 2. Too many bodies on the shelf for the Lou means Granny is saying “Ay-yi-yi” like Ricky Ricardo as the Wings get it done.

WHAT WE LEARNED AGAINST THE HAWKS
Brad Watson still has a special place in the hearts of Wings fans errwhurr.