The Setup: Red Wings vs. Stars – 11/18/09

Between the apartment move that refuses to end and the formatting issues on the blog yesterday, it’s been an incredibly crazy and non-fruitful week here at MW. But guess what? There’s Red Wings hockey tonight, which should cure all of my personal ailments and hopefully restore some semblance of order to the wild fluctuations of my universe. Or it may just make it worse. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Quickly, my overarching thoughts from last week:

• I don’t care how they did it, but winning all three of those games last week was a huge step forward for the Wings. Really nice to see them string some wins together like that, especially with two of the games on back-to-back nights.
• I know he hasn’t done alot (anything) on the scoresheet yet, but I’m really liking Drew Miller. For only having two games under his Red Wings belt, he looks pretty darn confident out there and does an excellent job on the penalty kill. Yes, he was out there for one of the Anaheim PPG’s, but thaty one was a direct result of Jimmah throwing a weak-ass clearing attempt right to the opposition. I like Miller and all of you can deal with that.
• Speaking of TJHE, I was THIS close to authoring a post after the win over the Canucks about how I was ready to rescind all of my previous doubt about his goaltending abilities. Then the Anaheim game happened, and despite winning, some of that doubt crept back in. I’m feeling much better about him than I was, but he still has some work to do to get me to fully eat my words. Four in a row would go a long ways though…
• CURLY FRIES!!! WOOO!!! (For those that aren’t aware, I was able to persuade a nice Arby’s employee out here in Seattle that she should care enough about Hank’s hat trick to give me a free order of curly fries. It worked, although I really think she gave them to me just to get me to shut up about how to read a hockey box score.)

Behind Enemy Lines: Brandon Worley, Defending Big D

Yes, I finally got around to dusting off the BEL feature again, and we got one of the best in the game joining us for this edition. Not only is he the managing editor over at the always excellent Defending Big D, he also just got promoted to NHL League Manager for SBNation. Brandon has worked tirelessly to promote all of the great NHL commentary from not just SBNation but across the blogosphere and this is hugely deserved for him. So, from MW, Congrats Brandon!

In the midst of all that excitement, Brandon made some time to answer a few questions about tonight’s game, as well as give me some fantasy hockey advice:

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CH: Wings fans are very familiar with Stars coach Marc Crawford from his days with the Avalanche, but how would you grade his transition into the head coaching position so far?

BW: I’ve been willing to give some time before I start to jump to conclusions about Crawford. He’s not here to rebuild a team, he’s here to adapt a team to a new system using the players that are already in place; that is a tough task to judge him on after a month or so with the team.

That being said, things are starting to get restless in Dallas. The players struggled early to get comfortable with the style he’s preaching and the Stars as a team have struggled mightily with consistency from game to game. I think he was a bit timid early on to shake the house up and mess with a core of players that have been in place for a few seasons, but the time is coming that he will need to do whatever it takes to get this team back on track. It’s looking like he’s split up Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow, the kind of tough love move that perhaps the Stars need to kick them into gear.

CH: Marty Turco has been playing great hockey lately, but is there any concern with him heading into Joe Louis Arena where he traditionally struggles to get wins?

BW: Normally I would say yes, but I think that monkey is off his back. He won at JLA in 2008 during the playoffs, and he won there last year in the regular season. What Red Wings fans should pay attention to is not Turco’s play, but the way his defense is performing in front of him. An inability to cover in front of the net, failure to move the puck in transition and constantly spending too much time chasing in their own zone has the Stars’ defense playing at a level we haven’t seen in a very long time in Dallas.

CH: Who’s one player the Wings should look out for?

BW: James Neal, easily. While he’s not leading the team in points (Brad Richards), he leads the team in goals and is the Stars’ spark plug on offense. He seems to always find a way to score; whether it’s sniper shot from the circle or a fluky goal off multiple deflections, Neal has been getting it done all season long. More than just a goal scorer, Neal also has some Brenden Morrow approach to his game in that he’ll be as physical as he can at all times on ice. He can be a bit reckless at time with his body, but his energy is key to the Stars’ success.

CH: One player that makes you nervous from the Wings?

BW: Henrik Zetterberg

CH: Prediction?

BW: I’m not a big fan of predictions in hockey for single games, but I’ll give it a shot.

Marty Turco continues his high level of play but the Stars have trouble scoring (again) on a team that is red hot and rested. 3-1 Red Wings.

I hope I’m drastically wrong.

CH: Bonus question: Will Mike Modano ever REALLY be a viable fantasy option for my team?

BW: He’s certainly playing like it the past few games. Here’s the thing with Modano: he’s been asked the past 4-6 seasons to be the team’s shutdown checking center; he’s not going to put up a lot of numbers that way. But with Mike Ribeiro’s struggles lately, Modano has been moved up to the second line and looks poised to go on a serious point streak.

Is he a top point-getter for a fantasy team? Hell no. But he’s certainly serviceable.

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Again, big ups to Brandon for taking the time to answer some questions and be a champion for all hockey bloggers.

Tonight’s Lines

Forwards

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi

Cleary-Zetterberg-Leino

Draper-Helm-Eaves

Miller-Abdelkader-May

Defense

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Ericsson-Lebda

Goaltender

Jimmah

Other News and Notes

• Apparently Chris Osgood is still battling back from the flu, which is why Jimmah will get his fourth straight start between the pipes tonight. Ozzie is reportedly working to get his stamina back up to par and should be ready to go on Friday’s game against the Panthers before handing the reigns back over to Howard for Saturday’s tilt in Montreal.
• Kirk Maltby, who also had the flu, is apparently healthy and ready to go tonight, but has been scratched by Mike Babcock. He will however see playing time this weekend.
• Need more coverage? I recommend you check out this interview that The Production Line mastermind Michael Petrella did with ESPN Dallas. Also, The Scrappy Octopus fills an emotional void for tonight’s game by posting videos of Santa dancing with Dallas Stars Ice Girls. Fun for everyone.

We’ll see you back here after the game. Go Wings!!!!

Tags: Chris Osgood, Dallas Stars, Drew Miller, Kirk Maltby, The Jimmah Howard Experiment