The Setup: Red Wings vs. Canucks – 11/12/09

*CSSI from the drubbing last night will be up later today.

The Wings kick off a week-long, four game homestand tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, who are coming in on the opposite end of the “feeling good” spectrum. Vancouver got worked over by David Perron (fantasy WOOO!!!) and the St. Louis Blues two nights ago in a 6-1 loss, but they do come in with a day of rest under their belts. The ‘Nucks are also expected to have the services of Roberto Luongo tonight, after being without the netminder for the last two weeks due to a rib injury suffered against these very Detroit Red Wings.

For those who don’t remember, the Wings took the first meeting this year by a score of 5-4 in Vancouver, in a game that saw Chris Osgood get pulled seven minutes into the game, Jimmah come in and get his first win and Pavel Datsyuk score a pair of goals. TJHE will get a chance to work his magic on the Canucks again tonight as Osgood is out of the lineup battling the flu. The opportunity couldn’t come at a better time for Howard, as the Wings are a solid 5-1-1 at home this season while the Canucks have posted a 3-7 mark away from GM Place.

Along with Osgood, Kirk Maltby is apparently battling the effects of the flu and will sit this one out tonight, making way for new Wing Drew Miller to hit the fourth line tonight. Speaking of lines, here’s what we got:

Forwards

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi

Cleary-Zetterberg-Leino

Draper-Helm-Eaves

Miller-Abdelkader-May

Defense

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Ericsson-Lebda

Goaltender

TJHE (Jimmah)

Other News and Notes:

• Interesting to note that Miller will work on the line with former Sparty teammate Justin Abdelkader and former Ducks teammate Brad May. Khan tells us that Miller got the stamp of approval from both Todd Bertuzzi and May, which all but locked him up into a Wings uni.
• Kujawa has an excellent interview up with Canucks blog Dan Cloutier for Vezina, which basically becomes a hate fest on former Wing and current Canuck Mikael Samuelsson. And FTR, he totally looks like a housecat.
• Speaking of blog interviews, I need to get off my lazy rear and get the “Behind Enemy Lines” back in gear. In the meantime, go visit our friend Andrew Bucholtz over at Canuck Puck for all of your ice-crashing Orca needs. Nucks Misconduct is another solid choice as well.

See you back here after the game. Go Wings!!!!

Tags: Brad May, Chris Osgood, Drew Miller, Justin Abdelkader, Kirk Maltby, Mikael Samuelsson, Roberto Luongo, The Jimmah Howard Experiment, Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver Canucks