The Setup: Red Wings vs. Sharks – 11/5/09

“We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming…”

It only took the better part of a week, but we are finally all up to speed here at MW and now it’s time to get back to the business at hand: The San Jose Sharks.

The Sharks head into Joe Louis Arena tonight riding a hot hand and a six game winning streak, all but guaranteeing a stiff test for the Wings tonight. For the Wings, tonight’s game either proves that they have righted the ship after a rocky start or that they still have a ways to go before they can be considered a serious threat again. Traditionally, I wouldn’t bet against the Wings in a game like this, as they tend to get up pretty well for a team like the Sharks hitting the Joe, even early in the season. That said, I’m still not convinced we are out of the woods yet, and I want to see the defensive performance stay high with Jonathan Ericsson in the lineup before I will feel better about this team.

The Wings will need to get off to another quick start if they want to win this game, as the Sharks are loaded with plenty of scorers in the front end. That said, the defense is a weak link for the Sharks, and they are operating tonight after battling the Columbus Blue Jackets last night.

News and Notes

• The Sharks will be without the services of Rob Blake tonight, who is out with an “upper body injury”. Gotta believe it’s something with his shoulder or arm, since he was seen in a sling following the game against Columbus.
• The Wings return both Brian Rafalski and Jonathan Ericsson to the lineup tonight, as both have recovered from their bouts with the flu. Like I said earlier, I’m not completely buying into this team’s turnaround until I see a solid defensive performance from Ericsson. I jokingly mentioned a couple of weeks ago on Twitter that Babcock should sit Ericsson for Meech, just to see what would happen. He did, they won, they won again. Time to pick it up Jonny.
• Keep an eye on the Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi line tonight. There’s been alot of chatter over the past few days about the Draper-Helm-Eaves line (which is deserved), but Homer, Dats and Bert have quietly become the most productive line for the Wings throughout this entire season, posting a combined 3-4-7 line with a +3 rating when on the ice together.
• Following a pair of solid performances, Chris Osgood has upped his GAA to a 2.74, good for 19th in the league. Save percentage is up too, eclipsing the 90% mark (barely) at 90.2%, good for 23rd in the league.
• Speaking of Osgood, he is going to have his work cut out for him tonight as the Sharks own two of the NHL’s top 5 point scorers in Patrick Marleau (22) and  Joe Thornton (20). If that isn’t enough, Dany Heatley is 9th in points (18) as well.
• Need more on the Sharks? Head over to Sharks on Ice or  Fear The Fin.

Lineup

Forwards

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi

Cleary-Zetterberg-Williams

Draper-Helm-Eaves

Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby

Defense

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Ericsson-Lebda

Goaltender

Osgood

We’ll see you back here after the game. GO WINGS!

Tags: Brian Rafalski, Chris Osgood, Dany Heatley, Darren Helm, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Ericsson, Kris Draper, Patrick Eaves, Patrick Marleau, Pavel Datsyuk, Rob Blake, San Jose Sharks, Todd Bertuzzi, Tomas Holmstrom