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Chicago Blackhawks vs Detroit Red Wings
In sports, lots of clichés make true fans roll their eyes, none more than the statement of a team with so many injuries running a “MASH unit.†Cliché or not it may be a very true statement as to the Detroit Red Wings who face the Chicago Blackhawks for the second time in four days, this time from Joe Louis Arena.
The Red Wings (18-13-5) had dominated the series with the Blackhawks (23-9-3) last season, winning four and losing two in the regular season, spoiling the Winter Classic on New Years Day from Wrigley Field and then Detroit took the Western Conference Finals classic between the ancient rivals in five games to ascend to their second straight Stanley Cup Finals.
Chicago is hoping that they turned the tide with a 3-0 victory over Detroit to even the season series at two. Currently the Blackhawks are in the Red Wings’ customary position of first place in the Central. The Detroit Red Wings have won the division for eight straight season, but are looking up on two rivals above them, Chicago and Nashville.
Detroit has so many injuries it is too numerous to name. They have been banged up since the middle of training camp and September and it has been like a domino effect since and the team is currently missing stars Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwell and Andreas Lilja. That could be the starters of the Western Conference All-Star team and the Red Wings still have four other regular contributors on the injury sheet.
This has allowed the Blackhawks to grab control of their division, though the Red Wings are hanging tough and hoping to have many of those players back in the New Year for a good stretch run and to pull themselves out of ninth-place in the West, one spot out of the final playoff spot. Detroit has not missed the postseason since 1989.
Chicago was hoping to follow up their big win over Detroit on Sunday with a home win over the San Jose Sharks so that they could take over the overall lead in the Western Conference, but they fell 3-2 on Tuesday night despite a lopsided shots stat which was 47-14 in Chicago’s favor.
Marian Hossa has started heating up for the Blackhawks, scoring six goals in 13 games. Hossa was a member of the Red Wings last season but bolted for a better contract in Chicago than Detroit was offering. He will play his first game back in Detroit since he became a Blackhawk, missing the first game of the series because of an injury.
Chicago now leaves the comfy confines of their home arena and ventures on the road where they are just 7-5-2 this season and 4-14-1 at Joe Louis Arena since the beginning of 2003-04.
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