The Fifth Liners

Boston have been playing well of late, quietly getting on with job. The result of which is a spot at the top of the Eastern Conference. Detroit's troubles this season have been well documented and last night the team had to go without superstar Pavel Datsyuk and dependable first-liner Todd Bertuzzi. On paper, this looked like another win for Boston. The first ten minutes were close, the Bruins looked dangerous when pushing and the Red Wings broke well, recently returned Darren Helm almost opened the scoring with a lightning fast breakaway, only to put the puck wide. Detroit's Johan Franzen then stepped up. The Mule set up the first and only goal of a penalty packed first period when his cross through the blue paint found Justin Abdelkader who tapped in the opener. This came straight after he stepped out of the penalty box after picking up a penalty for high-sticking on Zdeno Mt. Chara. Must have been a really high stick. The second period brought more goals for boys in ...

The Detroit Red Wings  announced this week that they've re-signed defenseman Brendan Smith to a two year contract. The big Canadian put up good numbers last season and as a Wings fan, it's good to the team getting things tied up before the training camp starts in less than two months. Rumour has it that Ken Holland wants to get Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson 's contracts sewn up too. No word on Damien Brunner yet who remains one of the best UFAs currently still available. Good news on the injury front though, Darren Helm is back and skating with the team. Albeit not 100% yet.

Nobody predicted this. Not even me, and I'm biased. Last night Detroit welcomed the Chicago Blackhawks to the Joe Louis hoping to build on Saturday's series tying victory. A tense first period saw plenty of penalties but no goals. It wasn't until seven minutes into the second period that Gustav Nyquist demonstrated perfect control to skate round Corey Crawford 's goal and slot home past diving defensemen and a helpless goalie to get his second goal of the playoffs. Less than a minute later, Drew Miller , who also had solid game was on hand to tip the puck into the net after a goalmouth scramble. 2-0 Detroit. Patrick Kane made a good breakaway to reduce the deficit to one goal five minutes into the third period but two minutes later Pavel Datsyuk was on hand to fire a screamer of a shot into the top shelf. No chance of Crawford saving that shot. Goal of the playoffs contender? Maybe.

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...

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...