So my post this morning was slightly panicked. Slightly irrational. And as usual, I jumped to conclusions and worst case scenarios regarding the health of Pavel Datsyuk. What? I’m a hard core Wings fan. I make no excuses for my behavior.
Well Khan luckily is of stable and sound mind and has thankfully alleviated my crazed fears.
Here’s an update from their morning practice:
Pavel Datsyuk, as expected, will play tonight, after sitting out practice Wednesday due to a sore foot, the result of blocking a shot in Tuesday’s game.
Ok I feel better. I feel confident that I can abstain from heading into the fetal position for the next 2, maybe 3 hours. And I will be elated if Datsyuk starts the game where he finished in Vancouver.
Khan also has tonight’s lines listed:
Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Cleary-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Leino-Draper-Williams
May-Helm-Eaves
Maltby-Abdelkader scratched
Lidstrom-Kronwall
Stuart-Rafalski
Ericsson-Lebda (Yeah bend over and grab your ankles)
Meech-Lilja scratched
Howard (starting)
Osgood
Well the Eurotwins and Homer will remain on the first line. The Flying Circus accounted for 3 goals and a weak Zetterberg breakaway last game, so there’s not much more to say. I’ll just shut up and be happy Babcock has decided to keep them together.
The Filppula line last game was surprisingly good. I personally thought Bertuzzi and Cleary would hinder and slow down Fil, Detroit’s own Goldilocks…but what do I know anyway. If Cleary can continue to pull out of his funk (most likely caused by missing training camp) this line could be quite successful. Bertuzzi has to score at some point and Filppula only seems to get better. I think having him between two large “power” forwards has been a good thing.
When we get down to Leino and Draper I’m not entirely thrilled. If those two connected even one pass last game, I would be shocked. I’d like to move Helm up there instead…but Uncle Mike has his reasons for everything. I guess we are in a holding pattern. A couple more games and hopefully the lines shake out and remain consistent.
Aside from the fantastic Datsyuk news, the other key today is Helm will be back in the line up. We will now find out if Babcock’s little public spanking pays off and he comes back stronger. I’m expecting to witness Darren “the kill” Helm in full force.
Oh and sorry boys, Comrie is scratched tonight. A slight case of the tummy bug….come on collectively say it “awwwwww,” so any chance, no matter how small, that you would have seen Hillary Duff in the crowd is essentially gone. If you’re looking for hot celebrity girlfriends, you will have to tune into the World Series.
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