With the win, the Red Wings have sole possession of first place in the Western Conference (for now) with 61 points and they hold a one point lead in the ever-so tight Central Division.

With Jimmy Howard getting the night off, his understudy Ty Conklin made 25 saves for his third win of the season; all of them have been on the road. Conklin looked a little shaky in the first period, but was in a groove after that.  As of now, the Red Wings don’t need to shop for another number two goalie.

The Red Wings got the scoring started when Tomas Holmstrom scored his first even-strength goal and his eighth of the season. Jan Mursak used his speed to get the puck from behind the Stars’ net and got it over to Holmstrom, who ripped it past Stars’ goalie Richard Bachman at 6:31 of the first period.

With Ian White in the sin bin, the Stars tied it midway through the first when Alex Goligoski blasted a shot from the top of the slot, which was stopped by Ty Conklin. Brendan Morrow was right at the doorstep to put home the rebound to make it 1-1. Loui Eriksson made it 2-1 when he scored on a backhand and broke his stick in the process.

After 20 minutes, the Stars led 2-1 and were beating the Red Wings at their own game.  The Red Wings were out-hit and out-hustled for most of the period. The Stars out-shot the Red Wings 11-5

The Red Wings got the break that they needed early in the second period when Hudler attempted a cross-ice pass from the left face-off circle, but instead, the puck hit Goligoski’s skate and it went into the net to tie the game at 2-2.  The Red Wings took control of the tempo of the game in the second period and out-shot the Stars 12-5.

The third period provided no scoring, but both teams had their chances to get ahead.  The Red Wings had two power-play opportunities, but failed to convert on both of them.  The Red Wings out-shot the Stars 11-8.

The Red Wings had a chance to win it in overtime as Stephane Robidas was sent to the penalty box for a careless tripping call with 17 seconds left, but didn’t get a shot on net.

The only goal in the shootout came from Hudler as he did his best Henrik Zetterberg impression (who did his Peter Forsberg circa. 1994 impression; well you get the idea) and beat Bachman.  Michael Ryder and Trevor Daley had their chances to beat Conklin, but they failed.

It looks as if the Red Wings brought some of their home ice magic on the road as well as some extra elbow grease to get by the Stars and are now one game below .500 with a 12-13-0 record away from the Joe Louis Arena.

Nice game from Jan Mursak tonight. He’s showcasing his speed at the NHL level and it showed by drawing an assist to Holmstrom’s goal in the first period.  Ian White led the team in ice time with 27:26 and Niklas Kronwall was the only Red Wings’ skater with a +2 rating.

The Red Wings have one more stop before they head back home.  Their next game is Thursday night when they face the Phoenix Coyotes at the Jobing.Com Arena.

Blueliners Niklas Kronwall, Ian White and Brad Stuart scored for the Red Wings (9-5-1), who lead the NHL in goals by defensemen with 14 in which six of them are from Nicklas Lidstrom. Darren Helm scored the final goal of the game thanks to a Stars’ turnover  in which he and Jiri Hudler went in on a two-on-one and a nice pass from Hudler sealed the win for the Red Wings.

During the four-game winning streak, a couple of Red Wing players have been red hot; Johan Franzen has scored five goals and added four assists while Valtteri Filppula has scored once with five helpers.

Jimmy Howard stopped 25 shots for his eighth win of the season.  For those who have doubted Howard as the man between the cage in Detroit, he’s also sporting a 1.66 goals against average and a .934 save percentage. No matter what, he’s going to be in it for the long haul.

White literally took one for the Red Wings in the third period as he slid in front of the net and took a Jamie Benn shot to the face.  White left the game and didn’t return.

The Stars got goals from Loui Eriksson and Brendan Morrow.  After an 11-2 start, they have now lost two in a row.  Andrew Raycroft got the start in goal for the Stars as he stopped 35 of 40 shots in the loss.

How things have changed over the last 10 days. Last Thursday after their sixth straight loss to Calgary, the Red Wings were booed out of the Joe Louis Arena. Everything seemed to be back in place after last Saturday’s shutout win over Anaheim, which began their four-game winning streak. Fans are wondering, “What scoring problem?” as the Wings have scored 18 goals in their last four games and are now 15th in team scoring with 42.

After 15 games, the Red Wings have improved on their own end of the ice so far.  Last season, they finished 23rd in goals against average with a 2.89 goals against average, which is very uncharacteristic of previous Red Wing teams over the years.  After 15 games, they are now fourth in the league with a 2.20 GAA.

They closed out their homestand with a 4-1-1 record and look to take their momentum on the road for the next four games.  Their next game is this coming Tuesday as they pay a visit to the St.Louis Blues.

Langenbrunner won a Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999 before being traded to New Jersey with Joe Nieuwendyk for Jason Arnott and Randy McKay in 2002. Nieuwendyk is now the Dallas Stars GM and a friend of Langenbrunner, which is the main reason why Langenbrunner lifted his no-movement clause to join him in Dallas.

In 31 games this season, he has 4 goals and 10 assists for 14 points to go along with a dismal -15 plus/minus rating. He has has 232 goals and 388 assists in 996 career NHL games since 1995. Langenbrunner has been to the playoffs in 13 consecutive NHL seasons, five with the Stars and eight with the Devils.

Langenbrunner, who will become, an UFA next summer, is in the last season of a 5-year, $14 million deal with a friendly $2.8 million cap hit for Dallas. It is still unknown if the Stars will re-sign at season’s end.

Look for Langenbrunner to play alongside Brendan Morrow and Mike Ribeiro on the Stars’ second line. Langenbrunner can also kill penalties and man the point on the power play. He will likely get 2nd PP unit duties as Brad Richards is already playing the point on Dallas’s first PP unit.

Langenbrunner is one of the rare NHL players who has a better PPG ratio in the playoffs than in the regular season. He will provide much needed depth and leadership to the Stars.

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Well Kings fans were in luck as up next were the Dallas Stars. However, a slight fear still remained within the hearts of the Hockeywood faithful.

Enter Jonathan Bernier, who was re-called from the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs.  Terry Murray decided to give him the nod to start against the Stars.

An interesting situation as the Stars, mathematically, are still in the playoff hunt and the Kings would like to position themselves as the number four seed for home ice advantage within the first round.

It was Bernier to the rescue.  He stopped all but one of the thirty shots fired in his direction as well as six shoot out shooters. The only goal to get by him was Brendan Morrow‘s third period goal.

Marty Turco made 27 saves in the loss.

Fredrick Modin had the only goal for the Kings against Dallas and Jarret Stoll had the shoot out winner to give the Kings the extra point in this contest.

Moving along.

Yesterday the Kings played host to the Nashville Predators who had already beat the team once this month; a 4-2 loss for the Kings back on March 4th.

The goal output yesterday was identical to the March 4th game, as was the result of a loss but it only took the Predators three goals to win this time around.

Jonathan Quick was back between the pipes for the Kings making 28 saves on 31 shots.

The Kings and Predators exchanged goals in the first period.  Steve Sullivan gave Nashville a 1-0 lead and Anze Kopitar tied the game at one four minutes and fourteen seconds later.

The second period was more of a sloppy period as neither team were able to hit double digits in shots nor did they score a goal.

In the third, Dustin Brown gave LA the lead at the 5:56 mark but Colin Wilson would tie the game right back up less than a minute later.

At the 16:59 mark of the third Patric Hornqvist, who is having a  break out season, would net his 26th goal of the year and that would be all the Preds needed to seal the victory.

Pekka Rinne made 18 saves on 20 shots for the win.

Two weekend points earned out of four is not a horrible situation. The situation that isn’t pleasant is that in the month of March the Kings have played seven games.  Three wins and four losses in a roller coaster ride to start the month.

One would expect the post-Olympic hangover to have faded by now, but such is not the case.

The bigger picture is the schedule for the rest of the month.  It does not get any easier.

The next game, Thursday night, is a continuation of this home stand.  The Kings host the Blackhawks who, after this weekend, will most likely be out for blood.

After the Hawks game the Kings welcome the Islanders to the Staples Center.  Then it’s a home and home with the Colorado Avalanche.  The second half of the home and home begins a minor road trip which will make a pit-stop in St. Louis.

The Kings then return home, briefly, to take on the Stars (again). The month closes out with a road trip to Minnesota and Nashville (yes, again).

The playoff position and stretch run are riding on the Kings themselves.  Home ice for the first round is something this team needs to work very hard to obtain.  It is not impossible to accomplish.

Below you will find the three groupings for the 2010 Olympic hockey tournament:

GROUP A: Canada, United States, Norway, Switzerland

GROUP B: Russia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Slovakia

GROUP C: Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belarus

The countries in bold are the four tournament favorites, without disrespect to the other eight countries.

Tournament format:
Each team will play the round robin portion of the tournament, facing the other three teams of their respective group and the best four records will advance to the quarter-finals.

Then the remaining eight teams will move on to play a qualifying playoff round to decide the other four quarter-final spots. The final eight teams will face each other in the quarter-finals until the Gold Medal Winner is decided.

Canada’s schedule will be fairly easy as they will play their first game on February 16th against a weak Norwegian team. Norway is most likely the tournament’s weakest team and should give Canada an opportunity to find some chemistry and chase those olympic butterflies.

After that game Canada has a day off, before they take on the Swiss on the 18th. Finally, Team Canada will conclude the round-robin portion of their tournament with a emotional match-up against their North American foe, the United States.

Who would you select as Team Canada’s captain?
Scott Niedermayer?
Jarome Iginla?
Sidney Crosby?

I would personnally give the C to Niedermayer as he is a proven winner with plenty of experience in the NHL and on the international level. Iginla and Crosby are great leaders too, but Niedermayer is the most experienced.

Potential final line-up for Team Canada:
Forwards:
R. Nash-S. Crosby-J. Iginla
B. Richards-R. Getzlaf-C. Perry
P. Marleau-J.Thornton-D.Heatley
R.Smyth-M. Richards-E. Staal
Jonathan Toews as the 13th forward.

Defensemen:
C. Pronger-S. Niedermayer
D. Keith-M. Green
D. Boyle-S. Weber
Drew Doughty as the 7th defensemen.

Goalies:
M. Brodeur
R. Luongo
M-A Fleury

Noteworthy considerations:
Forwards:
Shane Doan, Patrice Bergeron, Mike Fisher, Michael Cammalleri, Brendan Morrow, Martin St-Louis, Dustin Penner, Vincent Lecavalier, Steven Stamkos, Jeff Carter, Jordan Staal

Defensemen:
Brent Seabrook, Jay Bouwmeester, Dion Phaneuf, Stephane Robidas, Robyn Regehr, Brent Burns

Goaltenders:
Cam Ward, Carey Price, Steve Mason

Who would you pick on your team as of December 21st, 2009?