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Official Game Day Thread - - Today's Matchup - - VS. Start time: 12:30 EST XCel Energy Center - St. Paul, MN Available On: Tonight's Stream http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php/user/15741-drumnj/ (Directions in profile) Official Game Preview: Red Wings go for fifth straight win in Minnesota - - - *Opposition GDT* From MinnesotaWild.com - - - News from around the NHL Alumni game recalls Flames' glory days Quenneville released from hospital Fantasy spin: trade effects Western Conference Standings Forthcoming RED WINGS 58 GP, 36-16-6, 78 pts Last Game: Defeated FLA 4-3 WILD 58 GP, 31-22-5, 67 pts Last Game: Defeated ANA 5-1 Last DET-MIN Meeting: 11/19, MIN 4 at DET 3 (OT) Recap - LGW GDT Highlights Goals DET Johan Franzen: 26 MIN Cal Clutterbuck: 18 Assists DET Henrik Zetterberg: 48 MIN Miiko Koivu: 34 Plus/Minus DET Brian Rafalski: +16 MIN Clayton Stoner: +8 ---- DET Patrick Eaves: -2 MIN Eric Nystrom: -13 PIM DET Jonathan Ericsson: 62 MIN Brad Staubitz: 101 Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi Hudler-Datsyuk-Cleary Draper-Helm-Eaves Miller-Abdelkader-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Stuart Ericsson-Rafalski Kronwall-Kindl Projected MIN Lines Clutterbuck-Brodziak-Havlat Miettinen-Cullen-Brunette Bouchard-Almond-Kobasew Nystrom-Madden-Clutterbuck Burns-Schultz Stoner-Zanon Barker-Spurgeon Jimmy Howard Record: 29-10-3, 2.80 GAA, .907 SV%, 2 SO ---- versus. ---- Niklas Backstrom Record: 19-13-3, 2.32 GAA, .926V%, 3 SO RED WINGS Valtteri Filppula (MCL sprain) out, Chris Osgood (groin) out, Mike Modano (severed tendon) out ---- WILD Marco Scandella (concussion) probable, Miikko Koivu (hand) out, Guillame Latendresse (groin) out, Josh Harding (torn ACL) out On Deck 2/22, Sharks at Red Wings ; 7:30 EST

yes, he had a HORRIBLE start, but more than a quarter of the season since - look at the numbers: Over the last 22 games: 22GP 5G 14A 19P +5 Some people will continue to hate him, but as was touched on in last nights telecast, Cleary, Datsyuk and Hudler have developed some amazing chemistry and that pass last night to Dats was pure beauty... Hate all you want, but it's really starting to look like the guy just needed to get back up to NHL speed, and he has been one of our best players over the last 20+ games...

I found this gif from HFBoards.com. Can't stop laughing!

'Tearing it up' is one way of putting it. He scored 12 points in 17 games between those two dates; certainly very respectable, about where he ought to be using his prior season as reference. He has played better since joining Datsyuk, with 8 points in 6 games. This isn't exactly a shocking revelation, I don't think he's ever skated a regular shift with Datsyuk, and in combination with Cleary this is far and away the best line he's ever been on.

Someone needs to upload that to YouTube. I have a feeling I'd like Grapes' rant quite a bit.

Am I the only one who thinks it is a bit freaky?

I got excited thinking it actually was going to be something NEW

Why does the Winter Classic have to be in a city with an existing team? Why not Quebec, Winnipeg, or even Las Vegas?

I hate when idiot GM's make teams in our division better.

I think Avs won this trade in long term. Big defensemen who score 40points their freshman year is pretty damn hard to find. Scoring forwards are much easy to acquire. Nothing indicates that EJ will be a bust. If so, Jiri Fischer would have been a bust and so would have Jonathan Ericsson. It takes defenesmen much longer to develop than forwards.

Who would prefer Comerica to the Big House?!?!? That is just retarded. Did you not just see that place packed for a college hockey game? Think about it packed half and half with Americans and Canadians. It would be pretty sweet, and it would flood Michigan with Canadian Dollars.

Michigan Stadium is my choice imagine 100,000 people chanting Lets Go Red Wings!

I would rather have it at the Big House or not at all and let some other franchise play in one. 3rd largest stadium in the world? The atmosphere would be unmatched and there would be much better seating/viewing. Baseball stadiums suck when trying to host a hockey game in them. The seating is to far back. yes please...

Wings and Rangers would be awesome. Keep the Canadian teams out of it since they have their heritage classic.

Why are people saying that he's suddenly gotten better since Pavel got back? He's been putting up points and playing well since before Pavel got back. Had he been putting up points as he is from the start of the season, he'd be on a 70 point pace. How is that kind of scoring not worth $2.8 mil? Hell, he's still likely to get into the 40 point area, which is what Filppula gets and no one rips him for his $3 mil cap hit.

Not all. I'm nowhere near 85 and would crawl over ground glass to attend. I just don't think it's right for anyone to get two bites of the apple before others have had a chance.

"Stick with me kid, you'll go far"

For me, Comerica gets the edge. If this were to happen, its gotta be in a downtown Detroit location. It just wouldn't feel right to be played anywhere else. I know the Big House has more seating and what not, but thats really the only thing the location has above Comerica, in my opinion. As for the Wings playing in it twice, I don't really mind it that much. I'll fully admit that I was complaining about the Pens getting another WC mostly because it was the Pens Realistically, the WC game needs to have 2 cold weather market teams in it, and those teams need to have a large enough fan base to get the ratings the NHL needs for the game. That narrows the pool of possible teams considerably. I think a Red Wings - NYR Winter Classic would be awesome.

now thats a win of a post if I've ever seen one

The Big House

EXACTLY!!! Yes, the core of Marios message was true... BUT, it was obviously just Mario whining and crying because things didn't go his way, like he has done his whole career, and now taught his little protege to do as well. Not him actually caring about the league or other players. Mario doesn't really give a s*** at all. As was pointed out before, HIS TEAM is the leader in both penalty minutes AND fighting. He has never said anything about that. HIS TEAM pays the dirtiest player in the NHL to go out game after game with one goal; injure other players. He doesn't say s*** about that or condemn that kind of play either. He could be expressing ways to change the game for the positive, with his influential voice, in league meetings. But nope... Mario doesn't give a s***, and doesn't even attend those. But now that his boys got their ass handed to them for once, NOW he is all up in arms and pretending to care about the league and other players... Lets call it what it is. Hypocritical bulls***.

Lemieux's message may be true, but he went about it in a pretty brain dead way. It's obvious he doesn't care about the state of NHL hockey (as he colleagues have already said regarding his absence from meetings) until it affects his team. It's not "we need to do this to improve the game," it's "my team got punked so down with this sort of thing."

I just hate how most of the talking heads in the media are once again toeing the company line (and yes, even though Lemieux was supposedly speaking against the league, all he was doing was bitching about the league not protecting his little ***** boys - do you honestly think he gives a s*** about Marc Savard or Alexander Ovechkin or anyone else in the league that isn't a Penguin?) and are slobbering all over themselves trying to agree with Lemieux. Even on ESPN yesterday (is the show "Around the Horn" or something?), 3 of the 4 guys were all "Lemieux's the best! Whatever he says is right! This is a tragedy, a tragedy!!!". If Lemieux wants to take his puck and go home, let him. Let him go and take Crosby with him. The league's better off without their whining, entitled attitudes.

If I were visiting another hockey board and found a Red Wings discussion about a Detroit player with a problem, followed by some of these posts, I'd figure I were at a St. Louis Blues forum. Shameful some of the things said here. No one hates Jordin Tootoo the player more than this guy, but I wish him nothing less than a speedy and full recovery. This is just hockey, people.