Game Preview, Stars at Red Wings, 7:30 PM

You know, with all the excitement about the possibility of the Wings breaking the NHL consecutive home wins record by extending the streak to 21 tonight, I haven’t actually seen much about the game itself. Let’s see what we can find…

Mike Babcock says they practiced as if it’s just an ordinary game. “We’re going to get ready like we always do and focus on the process, and if we do good things, good things usually happen.” Henrik Zetterberg, meanwhile, says that trying to extend the streak has not gotten the team lost in hype but has instead helped them focus on playing to win. “If we want to be No. 1 in our division, we have to keep winning games. I think that helps, and now definitely, too, the streak is helping. If we made it this far, we want to have a chance to take it by ourselves tonight.”

Detroit plans on going with the same lineup they used against Anaheim and Philadelphia. Joey MacDonald will be starting.

In injury news, Danny Cleary had some more fluid drained from his knee today and hopes to resume skating in practice tomorrow. Jimmy Howard will be back by Sunday’s game against San Jose, according to Babcock, and may even be back by Friday’s game against Nashville. Johan Franzen had to have some adjustments made to one of his skates to accomodate a sore ankle, but he skated in the optional skate this morning and will definitely be in tonight.

The Stars will be without their captain, left winger Brendan Morrow, who is on injured reserve with a back injury. They may also be missing defenseman Sheldon Souray (foot). Kari Lehtonen will most likely be the starting goaltender. Dallas currently sits in 11th place in the Western Conference, trailing 8th place Phoenix by 4 points. They would certainly not be considering themselves out of playoff contention at this point and will be pretty likely to fight and claw for every point they can get.

So… here we go. The stage is set. Fox Sports Detroit Plus has the game for you.

Let’s go, Red Wings! *clap clap clapclapclap*

Game Preview, Flyers at Red Wings, 7:30 PM

Nineteen was great, so let’s go for twenty.

Tonight the Red Wings try to tie the NHL record of 20 straight home wins when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.

Mike Babcock swears the record hasn’t been on the team’s minds, but right here on the threshold of the record? “I like the points more than anything,” Babs said. “But when you can have a record, you might as well tie it … [and] see if you can break it. But Philly’s going to be a tough opposition for us.” Coach added that he is NOT happy with the Wings’ effort in the 2-1 shootout win over Anaheim Friday night. “We’ve found ways to grind out games with good goaltending and defense and yet we think we can be better than we’ve been, and we have to be.”

Jakub Kindl, meanwhile, is most excited about his first opportunity to play against his childhood idol, Jaromir Jagr. “If I get the chance to be out there against him, I just gotta be good defensively. He’s usually a very strong guy on the puck, especially one-on-one.” Kindl hopes to get a souvenir stick from Jagr. “It feels kind of awkward for me even asking. I’m going to have to find a way somehow.”

The Red Wings will be going with the same lineup they used on Friday night. Danny Cleary remains sidelined while he recovers from a cortisone injection to his left knee. Jimmy Howard has resumed stopping shots in practice, but remains out while his broken finger heals up a bit more. Both plan on being back in the lineup for Friday night’s game against Nashville. Joey MacDonald will most likely be getting the start this evening.

The Flyers could be without goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who missed Philly’s game yesterday against the New York Rangers (a 5-2 loss) with the flu. Bryzgalov did make the trip to Detroit, but Sergei Bobrovsky is more likely to get the start. They may also be missing Jakub Voracek, who left yesterday’s game with an upper body injury. Center Blair Betts (lower body) and winger James Van Riemsdyk (concussion) will definitely be out, as of course will defenseman Chris Pronger, who has missed most of the season with knee and concussion issues.

The Flyers are likely to be feeling extremely frustrated after yesterday’s loss and should come out playing hard. Defenseman Kimmo Timonen called his teammates out yesterday. “To be honest, I think we had half the guys going, half the guys not. That was my opinion. You might have seen differently, but that’s what I saw. It was a big game for us, and I was expecting more.”

The 20 game home win record Detroit is trying to tie this evening is held jointly by the 1975-76 Flyers and the 1929-30 Bruins, so I’d also expect the Flyers to have that in mind during the game. This is likely to be a big test for Joey Mac and by extension, a test of the Wings’ ability to win games against playoff-caliber teams without Howard in net. On the other hand, the Joe has not been a friendly place to Philadelphia over the past several years; true, they did win there last year, but prior to that they were 0-16-2 in Detroit, going back to November of 1988 (including the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals).

It should be a tight one, at any rate.

I won’t have a game blog for you this evening, since I won’t be online. You can find the game on NBC Sports/Versus.

Let’s go, Red Wings! *clap clap clapclapclap*

Game Live Blog, Oilers at Red Wings

Pregame: The longest home win streak ever to happen in the NHL is 20 games, achieved by the 75-76 Flyers and the 29-30 Bruins. The Red Wings currently sit at 17.

Ken and Mick talking about the scoring prowess of the Oilers’ Sam Gagner and Jordan Eberle.

The Oilers have the worst road record in the League, having lost 14 of the last 15. Therefore, my Red Wings, DON’T LOOK PAST THEM!

1st period:

14:54 Nikolai Khabibulin looked very clumsy attempting to make that stick save. Hopefully this bodes well for Detroit’s scoring chances.

13:57 FIGHT! Justin Abdelkader takes on Ryan Jones. Jones wound up on top when they fell to the ice, but they got in an approximately equal number of punches.

Abby gets an extra two minute penalty for cross-checking. Wings shorthanded. Todd Bertuzzi serving the minor while Abby serves the fighting major.

10:12 Excellent scoring chance for The Todd from Johan Franzen, but he misses the net.

7:50 Holding the stick penalty to Eric Belanger. Let’s go, power play!

Some delay while a piece of glass is replaced.

6:42 GOAL for Mule! Deflects a shot by Ian White while screening Khabibulin.

4:33 Holding penalty to Cory Emmerton.

3:47 Boarding call to Brad Stuart. 1:14 of 5-on-3. Come on, Joey Mac!

Henrik Zetterberg, Jonathan Ericsson (!!!), and Niklas Kronwall did an excellent job on the 5-on-3; the Oilers didn’t even get a shot on net!

Okay, shots only 5-4 this period (Detroit’s favor). This is probably why Joey Mac slid out and grabbed a shot that was going wide with about 30 seconds left– he was bored!

2nd period:

17:15 GOAL for Emmerton! Abby tries to stuff the puck short side, all the Oilers go after him, and Cory streaks in and gets the rebound.

14:49 Tripping penalty to Ladislav Smid.

8:52 Goal for Gagner. Danny Cleary gets hit by Ben Eager, Ericsson lets up on the play to bring some wrath to Eager, and it lets Gagner get in alone on MacDonald.

5:43 Boarding penalty to Belanger.

4:31 Goalie interference call to (who else) Tomas Holmstrom. Gee, sure looked like Ryan Whitney shoved him in there…

1:26 Detroit penalty for too many men on the ice, served by The Todd.

Shots 15 to 5 for the Wings in the 2nd. That’s better! Now, can we protect Joey Mac for the rest of the game?

John Keating reporting in intermission report that Cleary will be missing the rest of the game with a “lower body injury.” A pox on you, Ben Eager. You hurt our Newfie.

3rd period:

15:47 Tripping penalty to Ales Hemsky.

12:29 Tripping penalty to Abby.

11:37 Possible second goal for Gagner– it bounced in and out so quickly that it’s being reviewed carefully.

And… it’s a real goal.

9:14 GOAL for Drew Miller! Hard work crash the net goal by Miller, Abby, and Darren Helm. That’s 4 goals in 4 games for Miller against Edmonton this season.

5:16 GOAL for Hank! Khabibulin had dropped low to deal with Jiri Hudler’s shot, then can’t quite scramble over in time to block Z’s rebound.

4:18 Tripping penalty to White.

1:53 Edmonton calls their timeout.

Khabibulin out of the net for an extra skater.

Shots 10-8 for Detroit in the 3rd, for a total of 30-17. There’s one way to outplay your opponent!

Next up: The Wings try to take the home winning streak to 19 games Friday night when the Anaheim Ducks come to town.

Game Preview, Oilers at Red Wings, 7:30 PM, with bonus other stuff!

Okay, you guys, you know how we all know already that the 2013 Winter Classic is going to be Red Wings vs Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium? And you know how we already know that the U of M Board of Regents approved the stadium lease to the NHL (even including beer sales)? Gary Bettman is finally ready to announce the Worst Kept Secret In Hockey (TM) tomorrow! Let’s all act surprised so the funny little troll feels gratified, okay? I know we boo him every time he shows up. Let’s throw him a bone for once. Keeps him on his toes.

Meanwhile, in the Wings’ training room… Jimmy Howard doesn’t have any real updates on his broken finger. “I got nothing for you,” he said, laughing, to reporters. “I’ve seen a doctor. I saw him this morning. It was the same news as before – it’s just going to take a little while to heal.” Tiberius did admit that he is a little concerned about losing some of his timing if he doesn’t get back in quickly. “Ideally, I’d really love a couple of good practices before I get in there,’’ Howard said. “It’s been seven days now, the timing can go away. Every single day my finger is getting better. One thing the doctor said was I’m lucky being young enough where the bone is going to (heal) faster. Hopefully by the end of the week I’m out there taking shots.”

So let’s move on to what we need to know for tonight’s game against Edmonton.

Joey MacDonald will be our starting goalie this evening. Danny Cleary will play in spite of a sore knee, and Brad Stuart has recovered sufficiently from his flu bug to play. (Meaning that Mike Commodore will be a healthy scratch.) Pavel Datsyuk will play, but will be taking only the very barest minimum of faceoffs. “He’s got a – I don’t even know – hand, wrist, forearm,” explained Mike Babcock. “He just doesn’t feel like he should take (faceoffs) right now. He can take them at key times of the game if we need him. We’re just going to back him off for a bit and get him ready to go.”

Furthermore, this will be Tomas Holmstrom’s 999th career game– not bad for the guy Scotty Bowman expected to send back to Sweden in 1998. (For those who don’t know the story, Homer told reporters he picked jersey number 96 for his draft year, and Scotty commented that he should have picked 98 instead because that’s the year he’d be done in the NHL and going back to Sweden. Even genius coaches are wrong on occasion.)

As well, the Wings are looking to extend their home winning streak to 18 games. This is the first of a six game homestand, and to say the Joe has been friendly to the Red Wings this year is an understatement. These next six games are going to be of great value to stash away points to help guarantee home ice advantage through most (or even all!) rounds of the playoffs.

The Oilers will have head coach Tom Renney back behind the bench tonight. Renney had to sit out for Monday’s 6-3 loss against Toronto after taking a puck to the head in practice that morning. Renney actually had to take the same concussion baseline tests the players do when they get knocked in the head.  “Failed it twice. It’s a good thing they had the Coke machine in Toronto or I would not have known who we played last.” The coach estimated that he had to get 12 stitches to close up the cut and thinks he’ll be okay behind the bench tonight. “I’ll be fine … if I don’t yell.”

Nikolai Khabibulin is expected to start in net. Defenseman Tom Gilbert will be back in the lineup after healing his injured ankle, but Calder-candidate Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will most likely be out due to a sore shoulder.

Fox Sports Detroit has our coverage for this one, 7:30 start time.

Let’s go, Red Wings! *clap clap clapclapclap*

Late update: Make that Fox Sports Detroit PLUS, not regular FSD!

Game Live Blog, Red Wings at Coyotes

Pregame: Danny Cleary’s in for sure, as the beat reporters have tweeted that the Cleary-Helm-Miller line is starting the game. Brad Stuart is out, so Mike Commodore steps in. Ericsson has been promoted to the second pairing with Nik Kronwall, so Commie will pair with Jakub Kindl. Joey MacDonald starting, as expected.

1st period:

15:02 Hooking penalty to Ian White.

14:24 Hooking penalty to Martin Hanzal. 4 on 4 for a while.

12:38 Goal for Boyd Gordon. White and Kronwall collide and Gordon comes up with the puck, dekes around MacDonald on the breakaway.

3:52 Shots 6-6 at this point. The Wings have really done a pretty good job at blocking the puck before it gets to Joey Mac, so far.

1:31 Hooking penalty to Nick Lidstrom.

Shots stay 6-6 through the period. Blocked shots 9-1 for Detroit. I think they need to trust Joey Mac a little more, if they’re going to generate any offense.

2nd period:

15:32 Tripping penalty to Ian White. It kind of looked like Oliver Ekman-Larsson just stepped on White’s stick.

13:44 Hooking penalty to Pavel Datsyuk. Pasha and Valtteri Filppula had been forechecking hard shorthanded, and Ekman-Larsson kind of skated through where Pasha was reaching for the puck.

13:05 Goal for Hanzal– Ray Whitney’s shot deflects off Hanzal screening MacDonald.

This game is much like a desert day– dull and causing me a headache. Also I keep thinking of the line from “Treasure Buddies” that they kept showing previews of during the Puppy Bowl yesterday: “Desert? I thought you said dessert!”

Kronwall has some sort of minor injury that he’s icing down on the bench between shifts.

4:56 Tripping penalty to Michal Rozsival. Let’s see if the extra power play practice did any good.

2:46 Delay of game penalty to Rostislav Klesla (puck over glass).

2:36 GOAL for Johan Franzen! Datsyuk passes to Henrik Zetterberg behind the net, Hank flips it out front, and Mule taps it in.

Shots 14-8 Detroit in the second.

3rd period:

10 minutes in and not much to speak of. Joey Mac has looked sharp, particularly on a scoring chance generated by a BAD giveaway by (who else) Ericsson.

Datsyuk had a glorious scoring chance right by the goal line, but tried to get the shot away too quickly and just plain missed the net.

5:57 Tripping penalty to Shane Doan.

0:50 Joey Mac out of the net for an extra skater.

0:28.5 Empty net goal for Hanzal.

Meh. It wasn’t bad enough to bring Statler and Waldorf in for commentary, but it certainly was a beige game. That’s enough of that long road trip business.

Next up: the Wings return home to host the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 on Wednesday.

Game Preview, Red Wings at Coyotes, 8:00 PM

Okay, I go on vacation for a few days and you guys break our goalie while I’m gone? This is why we can’t have nice things!

(As an aside, I got the news about Jimmy Howard’s broken finger while I was using the restroom at a sports-themed restaurant that has televisions in the restroom. I happened to glance up just in time to see the info go across the news crawl at the bottom of the screen. The other women who were in the restroom are probably still wondering why a big Vader-style “NOOOOOOOO!” came out of one stall.)***

As you probably know, Mike Babcock was, shall we say, less than impressed with Ty Conklin’s performance against the Oilers on Saturday. He was, however, impressed by Joey MacDonald giving the Wings a chance to win after Conk was pulled, so Joey Mac will be getting the start tonight against Phoenix. MacDonald sounds like he’s ready to take advantage of the opportunity. “I didn’t sign here to be down in Grand Rapids,” he said. “You got to keep working hard wherever you are and when you get the opportunity, take advantage of it.”

Brad Stuart is listed as “probable” (flu). (How many of us could have flu and still play a hockey game, or, really, do anything beyond traveling from bed to bathroom and back again?!?) Danny Cleary is also listed as probable with a sore left knee. (This will be Cleary’s 800th career game.)

Per MLive, the starting lines are as follows:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi
Filppula-Zetterberg-Hudler
Miller-Helm-Cleary
Emmerton-Abdelkader-Holmstrom
Lidstrom-White
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Kindl

Jan Mursak and Mike Commodore are ready to step in for Cleary and/or Stuart if need be.

Power play improvement is going to be key; Detroit was 0 for 4 on Saturday and only 6 for 65 in the past 22 games. “Our power play hadn’t been wearing on the other team, hadn’t been grinding, grinding, grinding, spending two minutes in the zone,” Babcock said. “Motion and not taking the shots,” captain Nicklas Lidstrom added. “Sometimes we’re guilty of making that extra pass. When we get the shot through, we have to get the puck back. That’s been one of our problems, too, puck retrieval.”

The Coyotes are fighting for the 8th playoff spot, and they’re coming off a strong 5-3 win against San Jose on Saturday. Detroit has won all three of their games against Phoenix so far this season, so undoubtedly the Coyotes will have that somewhere in the back of their minds as well. Mike Smith is expected to get the start in net.

Tonight’s game will be on NBCSN, the network formerly known as Versus. 8:00 for broadcast start time.

Let’s go, Red Wings! *clap clap clapclapclap*

 

*** The “NOOOOOOO!” part didn’t really happen, but the rest of it did.

Game Live Blog, Red Wings at Canadiens, Statler and Waldorf Edition (L 2-7)

Pregame: With Nick Lidstrom out of the lineup tonight (flu), his streak of 213 straight games is coming to an end. It just doesn’t seem right that Captain Nick should be susceptible to flu viruses like a normal human would be. Our starting D-pairing will be Ian White and Jonathan Ericsson. (!!!!) Although I admit I have been curious to see how Mike Commodore and Jakub Kindl will do as a pair.

1st period:

14:52 Goal for Rene Bourque. Crashing to the net, deflects a pass by Scott Gomez with his skate. Play is being reviewed to make sure it wasn’t kicked in, and it wasn’t.

14:15 Montreal penalty to Lars Eller, two minutes for tripping.

9:04 Goal for Alexei Emelin. Andrei Kostitsyn makes a pass from behind the net (while falling), and Emelin gets the wrist shot through for his first career goal.

5:56 Montreal penalty to Hal Gill, two minutes for hooking.

3:48 Detroit penalty to Kindl for hooking– trying to recover from a bad turnover at the Detroit blue line.

3:30 Montreal penalty to P.K. Subban for elbowing.

2:02 Goal for David Desharnais. He gets in on a semi-breakaway and Jimmy Howard just plain misses the save.

0:55 Goal for Tomas Plekanec.

I’m thinking we’ll probably see Ty Conklin starting the second period. This is just not a good night for James Tiberius. Shots 12-6 in favor of the Habs. Obviously not a good night for the Wings’ defense either.

I’m experiencing technical difficulties and neither my netbook nor my husband’s old laptop are working now. So I’m on my desktop trying to piece together a blog from Tweets, box scores, and the Wings’ radio broadcast. Yeesh.

2nd period:

Conk in net.

18:08 Goal for Max Pacioretty.

16:42 Power play goal for Desharnais with Ericsson in the box for tripping.

13:27 Montreal penalty to Emelin for cross checking.

I tell you guys what, I love listening to Ken Kal and Paul Woods, but it is way harder to describe a game when I can’t see what’s happening!

Babs has put the Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom line back together.

Well, the Wings outshot the Canadiens 12-5 in the second, but Ken Kal barely got excited about anything, so presumably there were very few quality scoring chances.

The gang over on Twitter seems to be mostly blaming this fiasco on Lidstrom’s absence. I disagree. It certainly doesn’t HELP to have Captain Nick out of the lineup, but I’m getting more of an impression that they’re all mentally on vacation already, going into the All-Star break after a fairly grueling stretch of schedule.

3rd period, because I may as well finish up:

19:39 GOAL for Jiri Hudler! Pass from Darren Helm and Hudler wrists a high shot right under the crossbar. It’s a start.

13:53 Hey, Hudler scored again! If Jiri Hudler brings the team back… I just cannot comprehend this. Danny Cleary was screening Carey Price.

11:49 Ericsson penalty for tripping. Ah, Ericsson. You know, my friend Michelle has suggested that when E retires from playing, he can work as the penalty timekeeper who sits in the box, because he’ll be so familiar with the setting. Maybe it’s like crate training for a dog, and E needs to go in the box when he feels insecure?

I think Statler and Waldorf must be in a suite somewhere in the Bell Centre making bad jokes about the game.

Statler: Wake up you old fool. You slept through the game.
Waldorf: Who’s a fool? You watched it.

1:23 Goal for Erik Cole. Eller makes a backhand pass and Cole taps it past Conk.

Oh good, it’s over. Final shot count 27-25 Detroit, final score 7-2 Montreal. Blargh. Let’s go have an All-Star break, shall we? Shake it off, rest up, and get ready to start the home stretch by laying some wrath on the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

I’ll let Statler and Waldorf sum this one up.

Waldorf: Seeing a game like that always makes me nostalgic.
Statler: Oh, yeah? Nostalgic for what?
Waldorf: D.D.T.

Special Guest Blogger Game Preview: Red Wings at Canadiens, 7:30 PM

Blogger’s note: I JUST got home from work. So knowing how late I would be, I asked Special Guest Blogger Fake Todd Bertuzzi (@fakebertuzzi44 on Twitter) to fill in with the game preview. I’ll have my head back on straight in time to do the live blog a little later! 

Guest blogger Fake Todd Bertuzzi here, reporting in with today’s game preview.

Tonight, the Habs. I’m fairly sure that’s French for “The Haves”, but they way things are going, I’m changing their name to the Habnots. They’re 4th in the Northeast, 12th in conference, and riding a princely 1-game winning streak.  The men of Detroit are first in division, conference, NHL, possibly world at the moment, 7 straight wins.

Lineup for the Canadiens is a bit on the depleted side, with Moen out with an upper body injury, and Nokelainen, Gionta, Bishop, B. Nash, Ryan White and Markov all sitting on IR. Cole and Pacioretty are doing reasonably well this year, over 30 points each for the season. Drops off quickly, though- Cole, Pacioretty, Plekanec and Desharnais are over 30, fifth is Cammalleri with 22, then a host of sub-20 guys.

Detroit’s lineup has Kindl in for Commodore, possibly so he can catch another nap on the plane, or work on that impressive ‘fro.  Stuart’s in after a missed practice yesterday.  Lids might be out- minor flu symptoms, but it looks likely he will play. (Blogger’s note: It’s been confirmed that Captain Nick will be out tonight.) Commie’s in otherwise. No word yet on the lines, but I’ll probably be alongside Dats and Mule, which works for me. Now if only Mule would learn the Maytag…

Starters look like James Tiberius Howard III to improve on his Vezina campaign, and Carey “Shoot it into his chest to build his confidence” Price.

I’m sitting at 299 goals. I would have liked it to be Monday with the home crowd, but the Bell Centre will do!

Now, if I may step on my soapbox…

Montreal, I expect better. Trading Cammalleri during the Bruins game? That’s just classless, and even this reforming goon knows it! At least man up enough to do the trade after the game.

Didn’t get the fight I wanted during the Blues game, but I’m thinking of one tonight. Need let off the leash a bit. Goal, fight, maybe I can join Pavs with the Gordie Howe Hat Trick.

Now to keep Scott Gomez’s scoreless streak going!

He’s 0 for his last 54 games. 353 days, 20 hours, 53 minutes as of this writing. 948 minutes of ice time.   He’s even depriving Montrealers of free booze- there’s a pool hall in Montreal that offers free shots when Gomez scores.

I didn’t know Gomez was Carrie Nation in disguise.

No game posts today…

I won’t be covering the Red Wings vs. Blue Jackets game for you this evening (although I can report in advance that former Wing Brett Lebda will actually NOT be playing for the Jackets tonight). I’m going on a very important scouting mission– heading up to Grand Rapids to see my very first Griffins game. I’m hoping to do a little scouting of the Wings’ defensive prospects and see what sort of guys Niklas Kronwall will be whipping in to shape next season (if the unthinkable should happen and Nicklas Lidstrom actually retires). I’ll check in with my findings tomorrow!

Game Live Blog, Red Wings at Coyotes

Pregame: No! Bad TiVo! Hockey outranks all other programs so stop trying to change the channel!

The crowd shots FSD is showing of the crowd walking around on the Jobing.com Arena concourse is actually from a Phoenix vs Pittsburgh game. Just thought I would point that out.

Captain Nick is praising Jiri Hudler’s offseason conditioning and determination to re-prove himself.

Jimmy Howard and Mike Smith confirmed as our starting goalies.

1st period:

17:37 Goal for Raffi Torres. Jimmy Howard is watching to prevent a wraparound by Kyle Chipchura, and doesn’t see that Torres is in position to do the same thing.

15:59 Phoenix penalty for too many men on the ice. Served by Torres.

9:01 Phoenix penalty to Radim Vrbata for delay of game (puck over glass).

7:07 Hudler’s shot rings off the post.

6:32 Detroit penalty to Brad Stuart for slashing. Coyotes’ power play is 29th in NHL.

3:28 Another Phoenix penalty for too many men on the ice. I’m thinking the coaching staff is going to be a bit irked.

1:15 Darren Helm has a good scoring chance, but the shot rings off the post.

Not the most interesting period I’ve seen, even with plenty of shots– 13-12 Phoenix.

2nd period:

18:24 GOAL for Ian White! Shot from the right circle, Mike Smith is out of position due to Todd Bertuzzi skating around in front of the net.

13:09 Ken and Murph reporting that Daymond Langkow is out for the rest of the game with an upper body injury.

11:03 Offsetting roughing minors to Chipchura and Justin Abdelkader.

8:47 GOAL for The Todd! Nice shot from the left circle, up and over Smith. It’s Bertuzzi’s 299th career goal.

8:06 A scrum by the Wings’ net leads to a roughing penalty to Gilbert Brule.

5:52 Goal for Brule. Gets in ahead of the Wings’ defenders and dekes to put the puck low past Howard’s left leg pad.

0:01 Detroit penalty to Henrik Zetterberg for a play against Lauri Korpikoski along the boards. Phoenix will start the third period with a power play.

Shots 14-10 Detroit in the second.

3rd period:

15:27 ANOTHER too many men on the ice penalty for Phoenix, served again by Torres.  Coach Tippett looks kind of disgusted.

10:13 Looks like Mule might be hurt from blocking a Derek Morris shot. He had some trouble getting to the bench and the trainers are taking him down to the room.

5:45 And Mule is back on the ice and seems fine.

A couple of shots off the posts, but no scoring. Going to overtime.

OT:

Pavel Datsyuk has played over a minute without his stick, still getting in Coyotes’ way and kicking the puck away from them.

3:19 Detroit penalty to Datsyuk for tripping. It was actually Ian White, on replay, but Pasha gets the penalty. 4 on 3 power play.

Babs calls timeout to rest his guys before the penalty kill.

Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata have good scoring chances on the power play, but Howard comes up with the saves.

Just as the OT is ending, Valtteri Filppula gets his best shot of the game, but it wouldn’t have gotten in before the buzzer. So it seems we are going to another shootout.

SO:

1. Doan goes in but Howard stays right with him for the pad save.

2. Datsyuk makes a tricky shot and Smith falls for the deke, but somehow makes the glove save.

3. Vrbata kind of runs out of real estate and doesn’t quite get the shot away.

4. Jiri Hudler shoots into Smith’s chest.

5. Brule loses the puck before he can shoot it.

6. THE TODD with a spin and a backhand goal for the win!

The win tonight brings Detroit to .500 in their road record. A good start in improving it. Furthermore, the two points again put the Wings on top of the Western Conference, one point against St. Louis. Do I have to say that Monday’s game against the Blues might be kind of important when spring comes around?

Up next: The Red Wings will head home in the morning and get ready to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night at 7:00. Incidentally, the Blue Jackets discovered today that defenseman Radek Martinek will be out for the rest of the season with concussion symptoms, so they signed former Wing Brett Lebda to a contract. Lebda had been playing with the Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Springfield Falcons.