Thursday NHL: Chicago Blackhawks at Detroit Red Wings
It’s a rematch of last year’s Western Conference finals when Chicago, a team many think will win the Stanley Cup this year, travels to rival Detroit.
The host Wings, who lost their first two games of the season to St. Louis, are -155 money line betting favorites on WagerWeb.com. Chicago, meanwhile, lost a shootout to Florida and then beat the Panthers in their first two games. This will be both teams’ first game back on U.S. soil after they played in Denmark and Sweden to open the season.
The Blackhawks will be a bit short-handed against the Wings, as Dave Bolland (back) and Ben Eager (upper body) will miss the game. Troy Brouwer (lower body) will be a game-time decision. The trio missed practice for the second consecutive Wednesday.
The Red Wings appear to have been weakened by the departures of several top players, including Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky to Chicago (Hossa remains sidelined for at least a month). Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler also are playing elsewhere and the only significant additions to an aging team have been veterans Todd Bertuzzi and Jason Williams.
Chicago added Hossa, Kopecky and John Madden to one of the most young and talented rosters in hockey this offseason.
“Hopefully what we did this summer, in training camp and over this season is going to be enough and we’re going to beat them when it really counts,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “This game is a test for us. Every game is going to be one to look forward to when we’re playing the Wings.”
The Hawks never play well in Detroit, with four victories in its last 22 trips to Motown. The Blackhawks are 4-9-2 overall against the Red Wings since Jan. 6, 2008.
But Detroit looked shaky in Sweden, with goaltenders Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard combining to give up nine goals in the defeats to St. Louis. They allowed four of those goals on nine power-play chances, and it was on the penalty kill that the Wings struggled mightily last year. The Wings hadn’t started 0-2 since 1989.
“We look forward to getting our first win,” Osgood said of a sense of urgency to get that first win. “We don’t want to be sitting around waiting to get it for a while.”
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#1 by Kelly on October 8, 2009 - 3:47 pm
Detroit is on the way down – no goalies? – and Chicago is on the way up. Hawks are gonna take this down.