Russian Houdini

Given our amount of injuries we need to take advantage of any slim chance we get, and there is no better way to do that than make home ice at the Joe a fortress for the shortened season; just like we did with our winning streak last year.

This is a game we should be winning on paper. Granted Jagr is there but other than that nothing jumps out.

In the off-season they acquired:

C Cody Earkin, RW Jaromir Jagr, Backup G Cristopher Nihlstorp, D Aaron Rome, C Derek Roy, RW Reilly Smith, and LW Ray Whitney.

Earkin had his breakout season in the NHL last year where he played 30 games for the Capitals with 8 points. Nihlstorp came from Sweden and is an NHL rookie at 28. Given Lethonen is there I doubt he will get much time. Aaron Rome comes from the Canucks where he played 43 games and had 10 points with only 1 game played in the playoffs. Derek Roy is an established NHL winger playing more than 70 games per season (barring 2010) for 7 seasons with the Sabres. This is his second NHL team. His career year was in 2007-08 when he had 81 points. His productivity has steadily decreased since then with 44 points last year.

Reilly Smith is a brand new rookie having been drafted 2 years ago. He has only played in 3 NHL games. Lastly Ray Whitney is a veteran and a former Red Wing (03-04 season). He is coming off a 2nd best career year at Phoneix with 77 points. He also had 7 points in the playoffs. At 40 he is looking to finish his career on a high note.

All in all it seems Jagr, Whitney, and Roy are the players they have bet on this season. 2 are NHL veterans in Jagr and Whitney and Roy is a solid scorer who will lead the first line at center.

I like this match up a lot. We swept them in all 4 games last season and it's time to continue the tradition.

This was a much needed win especially after that 6-0 exhibition match. 

After they got back to 3-2 I thought this is going to inflict some mental problems on the team, but our leaders finally stepped up. I have always felt that Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall and maybe 1 other player (maybe Howard, he's still young though compared to the other 3) need to truly become the "leaders" of this team. 

They have all been leaders at a point during the last 4-5 seasons but none of them besides maybe Datsyuk (huge bias from me) is consistent enough to be compared to the leaders of generations past (e.g. Lidstrom). I seriously get that there will probably never be another Lidstrom (huge sigh!) but I want to see the "veterans" take this team to another level when it needs it most. We saw that tonight but too often last season and the season before we didn't see enough of that. At least that is what I have in mind from my limited hockey intelligence.

I hope tonight was a sign of things to come from the veterans, as well as Brunner. Also, fair play to Tootoo. I must say I was one of the people on here, granted I wasn't vocal about it, that just hated that signing. I hate Nashville with a passion, as well as pretty much all of their players. But he has surprised me thus far, and his willingness to fight for the team as well as his minutes has impressed me. I think he has taken his minutes situation awfully well considering how much more he was playing per night with the Predators. I wonder if he is gradually being worked in. Either way I hope he continues and gets some more action (at least more than Miller or Cleary). 

I am really curious to see Quincey the rest of the season. I am pretty sure he doesn't need to be told his Detroit future is on the line. 2 horrible games. I know we have gotten worse in the defensive department but I still expect the defensive end of our game to be for the most part mistake free on the small things (e.g. knowing where the puck is )... it's one thing to be outplayed, quite another to just make errors like Quincey has done the last 2 games. 

With this win we can look forward, but the team must remember what laid the foundations for this game; high intensity from the word go. Too often last year we played catch-up hockey and given our deep talent we could come back most of the time... but now we have to more resilient and intense from the start if we are to continue our playoff streak. Something tells me we're not going to get a lot of points (even OT losses) like we did last season if we go down 1 or 2 goals early.

Ideas:

1. Brummentaler (e.g. Emmentaler cheese)

2. Da Brunner Bummer Bomber

3. Frank (e.g. Swiss Franc)

4. Da Fondue

5. Raclette

6. Muesli (invented in Switzerland)

That has to be the best game-day graphic I have ever seen. That is pure art... keep up the great work!!

As for the game, I am really unsure what to expect. Whatever happens I just hope the boys leave it on the ice. There's so many unknowns in our lineup compared to last season as well as the 48-game format that it makes this "season" a bit of a toss-up.

I'm most curious to see how our D-line shapes up considering the great one is gone.