The Fifth Liners

The Colorado Avalanche have been on fire recently. So far this season Patrick Roy's men have won all six of their games. Mostly down to Semyon Varlamov's heroics between the posts. The Detroit Red Wings are also in a good place. Having got over their slightly shaky start, the team is settling in to life with Daniel Alfredsson and life without Valtteri Filppula. Expectations for the Red Wings' visit to the Pepsi Center were high for both teams. Mike Babcock's men are desperate not to repeat last season's chase for a playoff spot while the Avs need to prove that they're serious contenders. The Avalanche got off to a bad start when Cody McLeod was assessed a game misconduct and a boarding major penalty after his push on Niklas Kronwall left the big Swede with concussion and cuts. Kronwall was stretchered off the ice but not taken to hospital. The resulting powerplay allowed Henrik Zetterberg to set up Johan Franzen who then put the first goal on th...

The Detroit Red Wings' season may be over but rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser still has some hockey to play before he gets a summer holiday. The Red Wings' affiliate Grand Rapids Griffins are still in the AHL playoffs and have gone one better than their big-league cousins by making it to the conference final. The Griffins take on the Oklahoma City Barons and are currently 2-1 up in the series. DeKeyser missed most of Detroit's playoff campaign through a hand injury but hopes to be back soon.

Last night the Detroit Red Wings evened the score against the Anaheim Ducks to tie the series. It's tough being a Detroit fan, no doubt there was lots of shouting at the TV coming from Michigan. The Wings took an early lead in the first period, netting twice to no reply. After Johan Franzen scored a third, it looked like the Wings had this one in the bag. Then something happened, either Anaheim turned up or Detroit switched off; cos the game was turned on its head. Saku Koivu put the ducks on the board in the second and at the start of the third, the Wings found themselves 4-1 up. Goals by Ryan Getzlaf , Kyle Palmieri and Bobby Ryan brought parity to the proceedings and it was down to Detroit's Gustav Nyquist  to score the winner in overtime. Justin Abdelkader and Damien Brunner also scored for the Wings. The next two games are at the Joe Louis. Anaheim did well to come back from a three goal deficit and will be disappointing to have not taken any...

Last night Danny DeKeyser broke his thumb late in the game against the Anaheim Ducks . Is likely to be out for the rest of the playoffs, according to  ESPN.

Detroit Red Wings #1 goalie Jimmy Howard hasn't had his best season, the team has lost 6 of its last 10 games, with 2 of those being shootouts. The added pressure of the team dropping out of the playoff places made winning last night's game vital. According to  NHL.com , Howard sought advice from former Wings Goalie Chris Osgood, Coach Jim Bedard and Jedi Master Yoda  in his attempt to end the slump. Whatever that advice was, it worked. Howard made 22 saves including breakaways and a mis-hit penalty shot after Bobby Butler was tripped by Jakub Kindl . Helping the Wings to beat the Nashville Predators 3-0. Howard, braced for action.  Howard's performance was so good last night that he earned the 1st star of the game. The two points earned see the Wings jump back into that last playoff place although things are still very tight with a few teams still in contention. Henrik Zetterberg , Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Wings and new boy Dann...

Playoffs without the Detroit Red Wings are like picnics without sandwiches or Coach Maclean without his 'tache. It just doesn't happen. It hasn't happened for over 20 years either. The Wings are currently sat seventh in the Western Conference and came very close to dropping to 8th. Two things in Detroit's favour are that their next game is against eighth placed St Louis at the Joe Louis. In addition to this, Mike Babcock's team have a 4 point cushion over the teams outside the conference top 8. At this late stage of the season, that small cushion could have a huge impact. Detroit's second road game in as many days was against bottom-of-the-conference Colorado at the Pepsi Center. Mark Olver cancelled out Pavel Datsyuk's opener before Gustav Nyquist gave the Wings the edge again with the first period ending 2-1. That's how the score stayed until 6 minutes into the third when P.A. Parenteau deflected the puck past Jimmy Howard to draw the Avs equa...

Next big thing in hockey Danny DeKeyser is now officially a Red Wing, in a move that surprised nobody at all, he agreed a two year contract yesterday and skated with the team at today's morning practice. 

As well as the rest of the NHL. DeKeyser is a 23 year old D-Man from Michigan and probably the next big thing in hockey. He's still in college and currently plays for Western Michigan University. He can kill penalties and play on the power play. He can score, he can assist and most importantly, he's an undrafted free agent . The Wings have already held talks with the lad last season and the vibe on the internet reckons that they're the favourite team to pick him up. Still suffering with injuries, Detroit could do with a big, flexible D-Man right now. The Wings have reportedly already told DeKeyser he can enter the lineup immediately. This looks like a superb grab for the Wings if they can fend off serious competition from the Oilers and Predators as well as interest from every other team. If both our readers are so inclined, there's a whole twitter thing, look for #DeKeyserWatch.