Wings 4, Sharks 2

The Wings played a fairly steady game last night, beating San Jose 4-2 at the Joe. The game easily could have been even more lopsided but Vesa Toskala was able to keep the Wings from creating a blowout, though he gave up some bad goals nonetheless. Curtis Jospeh made the start for the Wings but had to sit out the second and third period after being knocked down by the Sharks' Jonathan Cheechoo midway through the first when playing the puck behind the net. Of course this happens right after I say goalies should be fair game behind the goalline. I still think they should be but hopefully if they ever do, they'll have some more sense when they do leave the net. It wasn't Cheechoo's fault, he just lost an edge when bearing down on CuJo and slid right in on him from behind. Curtis played the rest of the period on a badly sprained ankle. I'm just glad it wasn't his knee because the Wings would really be screwed then. Just typical that this had to happen barely 24 hours after Dominik made his surprise announcement. Curtis will definitely miss the game Saturday and was scheduled to have an MRI today. He was apparently limping badly enough after the game to lead Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News to believe he could miss a couple weeks. The Wings brought up Marc Lamothe from Grand Rapids to backup Manny Legace during Saturday's game with the Avs. Hopefully this injury will only be a short term one and won't turn out to be much more serious. It's better that it happened now, though, because he'll have plenty of time to be back before the playoffs. The Captain scored two goals last night and came relatively close to having his first regular season hat trick since '93. He looked good out there and fairly unaffected by the half-face mask he is wearing to protect his teeth. Tomas Holmstrom continued his great play of late with yet another goal and Kirk Maltby scored a shorthander on a hustle play with Kris Draper. The Sharks banged up other Wings besides Joseph. Manny Legace was hit by Alyn McCauley in the third period and was laying on the ice for a few minutes before getting up again and finishing the game. Pavel Datsyuk took a high stick which thankfully did no serious damage. The last thing the Wings need is more injuries and teams know it. I expect more physical play from the Wings' opponents from now on. It was an important win for the Wings who will need the momentum going in to Saturday's game against Colorado. The Wings are now tied for first place in the League with Colorado and Philadelphia with 74 points. I will be on an internet radio show called Hockey Insider at sportstalkcleveland.com on Saturday at about 12:30 if anyone wants to listen in. Next up: vs. Colorado, Saturday, 3:00 EST Freep | News | ESPN | Box Score | Highlights (56k, WinMed, register) Lines (courtesy GWB)- Dandenault-Mowers-McCarty Whitney-Datsyuk-Hull Maltby-Draper-Yzerman Shanahan-Zetterberg-Holmstrom Shanahan-Whitney-McCarty Fischer-Chelios Lidstrom-Schneider Rivers-Woolley 4 on 4- Shanahan-Zetterberg Whitney-Yzerman Maltby-Draper Mowers-Hull Fischer-Chelios Lidstrom-Schneider PP- Shanahan-Yzerman-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Schneider PK- Draper-Maltby Shanahan-Yzerman Lidstrom-Chelios Net- Curtis Joseph-1st period Manny Legace-2nd and 3rd