Wings 5, Predators 3
Last night in Hockeytown, the Detroit Red Wings defeated their Central Division counterparts, the Nashville Predators, 5-3. This win was the Wings’ fifth straight and puts them only two points behind the Preds for the division lead. They also ended the Preds’ six game winning streak.
“I didn’t think we were great early, but we found a way to stick with it and found a way to win,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said.
While Hasek had a bit of a rough start allowing three goals on the first six shots, he settled down and stopped 11 more. The number one line for the Wings had an excellent game.
The top line of Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom continued its torrid pace, accounting for nine points.
Zetterberg had two goals and an assist, Datsyuk assisted on four goals and Holmstrom had a goal and an assist.
Interestingly enough, there was only four penalties in the entire game. Detroit was able to convert on one of their two power play opportunities and successfully killed both penalties.
Schneider still out with knee injury
Defenseman Mathieu Schneider injured his knee back on January 7th and following the game, head coach Mike Babcock said he “didn’t think it was too bad.” I think it’s safe to say that when Babcock tells any reporter about how soon a player will be back, he’s either lying or completely clueless about the healing process. Either way, I don’t buy what he’s selling anymore.
We do know that Schneider won’t be back until after the All Star break. We also know that he’s spending plenty of time on the stationary bike and the StairMaster. We don’t know when he’ll actually be back.
“It was getting better and now it’s kind of stayed the same the last couple of days,” he said. “I haven’t had a knee injury since I was 22. If it were the groin, I could tell you exactly when I’d be back.”
…
“The last thing I want to do is come back, tweak it and be out for another week,” Schneider said. “I want to be 100 percent.”
Kopecky recovering from collarbone injury
One of the Wings’ rookies, Tomas Kopecky, broke his collarbone in four places back on December 14th when the Wings played the Chicago Blackhawks. He won’t be able to play for at least another month, but he was just allowed to start riding the bike and lightly working out his legs. The fact that if he injures his collarbone again, he may end his career is a pretty scary thought so let’s hope he fully heals before he gets back out on that ice.
“I didn’t know how serious it was until the saw the X-ray,” Kopecky said. “The bone was all over the place.”
Regaining strength is Kopecky’s main job, but he’s still about two weeks from taking off his sling and working on his upper body.
Kopecky has been around the locker room in recent days beginning his workout routine.
“It’s boring when you’re injured,” he said.
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