Last Wednesday the Red Wings came back down to earth after a very much needed two game win streak. The loss came at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets (this season’s worst NHL team in the win/loss column of the overall standings).
However I personally feel good for the Blue Jackets and their fans for such a victory.
Their playoff aspirations for this year have been long gone, so if you’re a Blue Jackets fan then it has to feel almost bittersweet to knock off the Red Wings at home this late in the season.
As a diehard Red Wings fan myself I never like to say “I like it when my team loses”, but I also love NHL hockey as a whole as well as understand the true nature of good sportsmanship. So again I say congrats to Blue Jackets for an excellent effort which will hopefully in turn yield better results in the seasons to come for their franchise.
The Red Wings’ next game is against the Nashville Predators this Friday March 30th. They lost their most recent matchup with the Predators in Nashville 3 - 2 which in turn sparked a 6 game slide for the Red Wings. At the time Detroit was without several key team leaders do to various injuries.
This game is a possible first round playoff series preview for both of these teams as they are currently slotted in the #4 and #5 spots for playoff seeding. The game will be played in Joe Louis Arena where the Red Wings have been phenomenal. It appears as if backup goaltender Ty Conklin should more than likely be starting his fifth game in a row because starter Jimmy Howard is still recovering from a nagging groin injury.
The Red Wings lead the season series up to date three wins to two losses against the Predators, making this game all the more of a grudge match between these division rivals. Three Red Wings’ players have tallied 5 points against the Predators so far this season (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Valtteri Filppula) and fortunately for the ‘Wings all of them should be on the ice for the game on Friday.
As I mentioned earlier in this article there is so much on the line for both of these teams in regards to how the Stanley Cup playoffs could playout. Home ice advantage can be a major assest especially for a team like the Detroit Redwings (whom have the most passionate hockey fans in the NHL other than the Canadian based teams). I am thoroughly excited for the playoffs to begin, but I am still cheering on my Red Wings for the final five remaining regular season contests until then. Go Red Wings and have a great weekend everybody!
All content obtained for this article was received via sources such as: DetroitRedwings.com, NHL.com, ESPN.com. All opinions expressed are of my own personal preference as a fan of the Detroit Red Wings and the National Hockey League.
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