Wings Welcome Struggling Stars

Detroit (37-17-6) VS Dallas (31-23-6)

I only hope the Red Wings are half as pissed off as I was after Detroit's previous match. If so, they might actually come out tonight and put forward an effort worthy of an NHL-caliber team, which was not the case against the Sharks.

The Dallas Stars, however, are a different beast altogether. Losers of 11 of their last 13 games, the big D has looked like the big F and have slipped into a log-jam currently just out of playoff contention. Their captain is slumping while one of their biggest name-drops (one Brad Richards) is still out with concussion symptoms. The Stars have only managed a meager 5 goals in the 4 games Richards has been absent.

The Red Wings are relatively healthy heading into this game. True, we did lose Patrick Eaves in the San Jose game for about a week, but our top 6 forwards are looking good, especially Todd Bertuzzi and Danny Cleary. Cleary has 6 points in his last 4 games, and Bertuzzi is just coming off a similar run.

I think for this match, though, I'm going to stamp the Gold Star onto Johan Franzen. The Mule hasn't been terrifying lately: he has 9 points this month, but 5 of those came on 02/02 against Ottawa with his 5-goal flurry. Mule is due, and I think Mule is gonna get fed tonight.

That's all for me for now! No lucky shirt tonight, Detroit soiled it in that poor effort against the Sharks, so obviously I need to let it's mojo recharge.

Enjoy the game, Wingnuts! Let's Go Red Wings!!

The Geek's LST!

Lucky Shirt: 8-4-0

No Lucky Shirt: 5-3-1

Wings' Inconsistency Kills in 4-3 loss to Sharks

Well, that was a frustrating three hours...

The Red Wings put in an...uninspired, shall we say, effort and ended up never seeing a lead in their 4-3 loss to San Jose. After winning 5 straight, is it so much to ask that the boys try to keep the momentum going? Universal karma being as it is, Vancouver will win tonight and yet again we'll watch the Canucks laugh and pull away from us again. It seems like whenever we get a whiff of the 'Nucks and their ass, it turns our stomach and we play like garbage.

One big killer tonight: Inconsistency. The Red Wings had good spurts, then would putter out and make it seem like they...really just didn't care. In the end, again, Danny Cleary was one of the only guys out there really looking like he wanted a W, scoring the first 2 Detroit goals and setting a new season-high for himself. If we had more guys playing with half the heart that Newf puts into his play, we'd be looking at 10 game winning streaks every other month. Hank Zetterberg got the only other Wings goal very late in the 3rd to give us the hope that Detroit might possibly tie things up, but even if they did, I'm convinced they wouldn't have deserved even the point for going to OT.

Fact is: If you're not willing to play hard for 60 minutes, you don't deserve to play past the end of that hour. Detroit did not play hard all night, and certainly didn't get a glance at OT this evening.

Smarten up, Red Wings, and take it to Dallas in the next game. You're better than this.

Wings Hope the Roll Continues in Minny

Detroit (36-16-6) @ Minnesota (31-22-5)

Detroit skates into Minnesota today for a matinee affair with the Wild. The Red Wings could earn a season-high 5th straight win this afternoon, and with the play of some of the Wings, such as Todd Bertuzzi, Pavel Datsyuk and Dan Cleary, the chances are certainly good.

The season series is split 1 game apiece currently, and the Wild have been just as successful as the Red Wings in their last 10 games, both clubs going 7-3-0.

Now, the Wings seem to have found a system that's been working for them, SO...in response to that, I am NOT going to do a Geek's Winning Formula today. Instead, I'm going to give my prediction for Detroit's player of the game. Let's call it..."The Geek's Gold Star Student", which today I believe will be Todd Bertuzzi.

I have a number of reasons for my pick, 6 of them are lying in the nets in Boston and Florida, but there's more to it than that. Todd is playing in his 1000th game today, AND he has his family down to watch him. Bert has a lot of reasons to work hard today, and with his recent successes, I think he's going to come out flying this afternoon and tame the Wild.

Feel free to chat me up on Twitter during the game between my ridiculous outbursts if you want to share opinions on something, by the way! I hope I don't come off as stuck-up or anything, I'm just a crazy Wingnut like the rest of you.

Enjoy the game, Wingnuts! Let's Go Red Wings!!

The Geek's LST!

Lucky Shirt: 7-3-0

No Lucky Shirt: 5-3-1

Status for Tonight: Lucky Shirt

Wings Look to Key In on Second Florida Victory

Detroit (35-16-6) @ Florida (24-25-7)

Quickie because I was out late tonight before the game (Whoops!)

We beat the team that Steve built. Awesome! Now we can really move on past the baggage and continue to step it up as we head closer to the post-season and contend for playoff positioning. The Wings will be working on that tonight against the Florida Panthers.

So for the "Keys" to victory (ohh, so clever, right..?), here's The Geek's Winning Formula!

1.) Carry Momentum - The Red Wings need to carry the passion from last game into tonight's affair and make sure they come out strong early. Last game was one of our best starts overall in a long time, and I'd like to see more strong efforts in the first 20 minutes from here on out.

2.) Work Together - I don't know if it was all the injuries, but it kind of felt sometimes like the Wings were not so much a team as a group of individuals all wanting the same thing. With our guys getting healthy, it's been looking more like players are working together with linemates and synergy is building again. Keep it up, boys!

3.) Discipline...! - I said it before, guys...watch the dumb penalties! We won't always get away with the opposition going 0-fer on the man-up.

Enjoy the game, Wingnuts! Let's Go Red Wings!!

The Geek's LST!

Lucky Shirt: 7-3-0

No Lucky Shirt: 4-3-1

Status for Tonight: No Lucky Shirt