jpfalcon09

The generic PA announcer in the EA NHL games says "Robert Long"!

Maltby's awful...sheesh.

He hasn't taken part in any contact drills yet in practice, and he may only get that chance on Friday morning if they decide to do it in the morning skate. The team will likely not practice on Saturday, so who knows, but I think you'll see him back for the home game vs. Columbus on Tuesday.

Weber ties it up for Nashville and Hordichuk and Jason Smith has a good scrap, Smith got an instigator and Hordichuk got tossed for a charge.

Owner Tom Gladieux is going to ask for a one year suspension of operations from the ECHL this week and it will be voted on next week by the board of the ECHL. My guess is that they'll okay it as long as the Mud Hens go through with the purchase and assumingly try to get the team back on the ice for the 08-09 season.

That's great news! I was worried that TSN would get the deal and us here in northern Ohio would lose HNIC.

Sammy said today that he would like to play on the point during the powerplay. I guess he feels that if he's going to take 60-footers, they might as well have a chance to get a bounce or something freaky and go in. Methinks he is also trying to bargain for a reason to stay in the lineup with Hudler's and Flip's recent strong play.

Z took part in all aspects of today's morning skate and wants to get in 3-4 games before the playoffs, and he feels that he can do that.

Per Bruce MaCleod at RWC.com Bertuzzi and Cleary are on the ice at the morning skate and look fine. No word on any line combos yet though. Keep you guys updated.

Per Bruce again at RWC.com -- Bertuzzi and Cleary are both in the lineup tonight unless something happens in the pregame skate. At the moment, Bertuzzi skates with Datsyuk and Homer although Babcock said he'll probably switch him over to play with Lang and Calder during the game. Babcock always looks at forwards in pairs. -- Osgood starts in net tonight. -- Zetterberg skated on his own for a second straight day. Everything's OK. Babcock said he puts a conservative return date on Z at late next week. -- Hasek and Babcock met this morning about the second goal in Calgary. Hasek's fine with everything, including Babcock. The goalie said that he got hit with an Iginla elbow and the replay shows it. There doesn't seem to be any tension between Hasek and Babcock.

No hard work = no drawing penalties. Pretty clear the guys didn't want to go out on this trip, might as well should have just stayed home and forfeited the two losses with the lackluster effort so far.

Obviously they don't care much about getting #1 in the West, probably saving their energy for the myriad of no opposition coming up in the future (3 vs. CBJ, 2 vs. CHI).

Was at the game last night, what a treat. Crowd was really electric, it was as close as you could get to a playoff atmosphere without it being a playoff game. Dom was outstanding in the first, he really saved the game for the team, Wings were kind of lethargic in the 1st, but that quickly changed. Robert Lang is unstoppable when he's going. He had the Nashville players backing in so much on defense, they really respected him and his creativity. Hudler has a great shot and is pretty sneaky, and Calder just makes that line chug. He does everything that Williams didn't do, Lang feeds off that and Hudler reaps the benefits. I thought Schneider was awful, and I really hope he's gone at the end of the year. He's a step slow and isn't the physical prescence he once was when he was with LA and even early on with the Wings. Splitting up him and Kronner helped the D in the 3rd, Kronner looked much more comfortable moving the puck and not getting caught. Officiating was brutal again, but the Wings PK was really good the whole night. Datsyuk has really become a good penalty killer, he's very sound positionally in his own end. On a last note, there were two white trash Nashville guys sitting about 8 rows behind us that had that freaking Tootoo whistle and of course had to blow it whenever he stepped on the ice. They're both lucky that no one beat the hell out of them for being so annoying. Needless to say when the 3rd came around and Huddles scored, they shoved the whistle where the sun don't shine and could only hang their heads when the final horn went off.

Scored some tix to the game so I'll be there, should be a good one after last night's match. Wings 4 Preds 3

Score check.

Wings are 2-0 when Maltby scores!

Does anyone have "Get Your Red On?" I loved that song for the sheer fact that I would mock the Canuck fans with "Hey! Get your towels out!" and of course the best "Hey! Get your clubs out!" Thanks guys!

Ugly win, but I'll take it against a non-playoff team. It felt like I was watching the series with Edmonton from last year, perimeter shots, 50 some odd shots total and only 2 goals (until the OT winner). I would suspect that Franzen's "injury" is something lingering since he didn't practice before the game tonight. It's a good chance to rest up guys who don't need to risk anything serious happening and to give the GR guys some experience in case they're needed come playoff time.

Babs didn't address anything about people being hurt in the post game, so I'm gonna assume that he just gave Dats and Homer the rest of the night off. Let's stay positive here people!

Even more reason to give Holland props, he stole Calder from Philly/Chicago and worked his way around the "high price" for Bertuzzi with a bunch of great conditions. We'll see if the Ducks can keep up their play with the moves that the other West teams made.

That might have been one of the most complete games the guys have played in awhile. Great to see Calder contribute in his first game, I think he showed tonight what he can do for this team and the guys around him, seemed like Franzen fed off him really well. Langer needs to get his butt in gear, I seriously think that until Bertuzzi comes back they should experiment with Draper, Filppula and Hudler to go with Calder and Franzen, anything to spur on Lang. Homer keeps on rolling, at this pace he might come close to 40 goals. Great to know he'll be around 3 more year. Keep it rollin' boys.

Nagy just scored for Dallas to beat Tampa in OT. Stars have a 2 point lead on the Sharks for 5th.

LOL Ken Kal: Williams a shot and Khabibulin the save! Looks like some habits are hard to break.

Jason Blake has the hat trick tonight and 4 points total.

What's with all the negativity? The way I see it, Calder just went from the outhouse to the penthouse, he'll be motivated to play now that he has a new lease on his career. We all wanted Williams traded, and he wasn't going to garner much interest outside of a 2nd or 3rd line player. The possibility remains still of getting a big name, Lang/Hudler are still on the roster and the Wings didn't lose any draft picks or prospects.