Monday, March 29, 2004

GameDay: vs. Minnesota (27-28-20-3, 77) 7:00 EST

Tonight is the fourth and final matchup between the Wings and Wild this season. The season series is 1-0-2 in favor of Detroit. November 15, the teams skated to a 1-1 tie in the Xcel Energy Center. Dominik Hasek got the start, and reaggravated his groin. He didn't play again until December 4, when the Blues and Wings tied 4-4. Steve Yzerman tied the game up at 12:18 of the third. November 22, the Wings beat the Wild 5-2 on the road. Cujo got the start, Hull had a goal and two assists, and Pavel Datsyuk scored at 19:58. And the day after Christmas, December 26, the teams skated to a 2-2 tie in the Joe. Cujo got the start, and Kris Draper tied it up at 7:23 of the third. The Wings are coming off a 2-0 shutout of the Avs in the Joe. It was the Wings' most convincing win over the Avs this season (of 3). Legace played stellar and the Wings held Forsberg and Sakic shotless. Manny's 60 saves on 61 shots in the home-home series versus the Avs catapulted him into the playoff picture for the Wings. The Wings and Lightning are tied at 103 points for the league lead, but the Wings have a game in hand. In the situation of a tiebreaker, the teams tied 1-1 in their only meeting March 8. The Wings have clinched their lead over the Avs with the eight-point swing just attained, but need to hold off the pesky San Jose Sharks, who are back three points at 100. The Wings are 6-3-1-0 in their last ten decisions, after a tough road trip where they went 2-2-1. The Wild are coming off a 2-1 win over the Mighty Ducks. Marian Gaborik scored the winning goal at 12:18 of the third, and Dwayne Roloson got the start. It was a low-shooting affair, as the Wild outshot the Duckies 22-19. The Wild are eliminated from the playoff picture, as they have 77 points to eighth-seed Nashville's 85 with only five games remaining. The Wild are 5-2-2-1 in their last ten decisions. Manny Legace will get the start. Injury Notes: Kris Draper has been cleared by doctors to resume practicing and playing. Drapes suffered a partially torn left rotator cuff on March 3 during the pregame drills for the Calgary game that morning. Kris got caught up in Cujo's equipment when he was skating by, and he fell awkwardly on his shoulder. Drapes has been begging Coach Dave Lewis to get back in the action, but is doubtful for tonight:
"I'm still lobbying for Monday, but I don't think I'm going to get my way. They want me to play two of the last four (regular-season games), and I'm trying to get three of the last four. I'll probably ease into it. I'm sure the trainers and doctors have talked to Lewie about what they want to do, and I'm just going to try to get the most out of it."
Mark Mowers took a shot off his foot Saturday against Colorado, and is probable for tonight. Niklas Kronwall, who broke his leg in warm-ups January 22 at Los Angeles, is going to start skating soon. League Notes: New Jersey goaltender phenom Martin Brodeur is the youngest (31) of eight goalies to reach 400 wins. And he did it in the fewest games (735). The San Jose Sharks reached 100 points for the first time in franchise history. Owen Nolan is out three weeks after awkwardly checking Senators center Bryan Smolinski Saturday night. I was watching the game, and it looked like a harmless check.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Bookmark this post

del.icio.us On the Wings

Search this site

<< Home

[Powered by Blogger]