Red Wings/Oilers Gameday 12/3

As we get into the Christmas season, the Red Wings are quietly improving. Yet, the team still isn’t too reliable from game to game. But hey, things will get better.

The first example? It’s snowing outside. There’s big fluffy snowflakes coming down, the ground is lightly covered with white, and there’s hockey on tonight. Not just a regular Wings game, but a game against a historic western Canadian rival.

Meanwhile, as the calendar changes and the weather gets colder, the Red Wings are slowly heating up. Inconsistency is still a big problem, with goals coming in bunches or not at all. There’s still a lot of injuries to deal, with it seeming that more guys are getting knocked out of the lineup every week. Despite all of this, the Wings are starting to put together a winning formula. For example, the Wings have scored seven in the last two games, and had a much better November than their October. Slowly, Detroit is creeping back into the playoff picture. A win tonight would put the Wings in the West’s top eight.

DETROIT RED WINGS

The major change to tonight’s lineup is the NHL debut of Jakub Kindl on the Red Wings’ defense. He is replacing Brian Rafalski, who is out with a strained back. Kindl is a 6’3, 200 pound defenseman, who has been a regular in Grand Rapids since 2007-08. Before those two seasons on the west side of Michigan, Kindl was a three-year member of the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, and also played for the Czech Republic at the World Junior Championships in 2005 and 2006. Although Kindl is a Red Wings draft pick, he is not a draft day steal in the mold of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Instead, he was the Red Wings’ first round selection in 2005 (19th overall).

Kindl will be playing with Nick Lidstrom on the Wings’ first power play unit, and will be switching with Jonathan Ericsson on the first and third defensive pairs.

In the forward lines, Patrick Eaves will not be playing due to a sore left ankle. Ville Leino and Todd Bertuzzi have also been switched, at least to start the game. Full line combinations are below.

Leino-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary
Draper-Helm-Miller
May-Abdelkader-Maltby

Lidstrom-Ericsson/Kindl
Stuart-Meech
Lebda-Kindl/Ericsson

Howard
Osgood

EDMONTON OILERS

The Oilers are a team in chaos. Edmonton is dead-last in the Western Conference, with only 24 points in 27 games. They have just lost Ales Hemsky for the rest of the season, and do not have the offensive firepower needed to make up for that loss. Tonight is a win that the Red Wings must have, if only because of how poor the Oilers are.

Edmonton is loaded with small forwards, and that consistent mold of offense has not produced any wins. Meanwhile, free agent pursuits fell flat, and trade possibilities failed as well. The Oilers will have a long year in the cold weather of Alberta.

For Michigan fans, the Oilers’ visit does bring some former Wolverines back to Ann Arbor. Mike Comrie played two seasons for Michigan, from 1998 to 2000. In those two years, he scored 43 goals and 103 points as the Wolverines’ highest scorer. Since then, Mike went to his hometown Oilers, the Flyers, the Coyotes, the Senators (twice), and the Islanders, before coming back to Edmonton. So far, his scoring has been down this year, like the rest of the Oilers.

Andrew Cogliano is another name familiar to Michigan fans. After two great years in the maize and blue, Andrew started with the Oilers in 2007-08. Like Comrie, Cogliano is having a down season, with a stat line of 3-5-8. Hopefully, he can turn up his play for an offense that badly needs a jolt.

GAMEDAY FOOD

Tonight’s gameday food is the traditional Detroit coney dog. Topped with chili, cheese, mustard, and onions (at least mine are), Detroit’s two dueling coney restaurants have been serving up one of Detroit’s favorite foods since 1917 – ten years before the Red Wings’ arrival. Downtown, American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island are right next to each other, with a friendly rivalry that dates back to the pair of brothers that founded each joint. In the suburbs, Leo’s and National are the two big chains of coneys, with locations scattered throughout the suburbs.

Read more about these two dueling businesses here.

PREDICTION

This afternoon, Detroit’s legendary weatherman Sonny Eliot predicted a 4-3 game tonight. I’ll stick with that. Red Wings 4, Oilers 3 (with a goal for both Cogliano and Comrie). Tonight’s first star for the Wings will be Darren Helm.