Osgood Seeks #400 Against Blues

Take 2.

After the disaster that befell him against the Stars a few games ago, Chris Osgood gets his second opportunity at reaching the illustrious career milestone of 400 wins. He'll have to get the win however, with a forward line that will be missing its primary component -- Pavel Datsyuk.

Datsyuk was injured in the first period of the Wings' overtime win against the Canucks last night and isn't expected to return for another 4 weeks while he nurses his broken hand. On the bright side, this provides someone with an opportunity to step it up and show they are a top 6 forward. Jiri Hudler, I'm looking at you!

Frankly, Happy Hudler has had a DOG of a season so far (1g, 5a, -7). We've always known he has the skills and the intuition for finding the net, but this season not so much. Why? The only thing I can think, is confidence.

It was a slow start to the season that provided the snowball. That snowball seems to have been growing exponentially to avalanche-like proportions to the point where Hudler seems to be consistently making the wrong decisions with the puck. He's reverted to a "pass-first" mentality which oftentimes, has been his downfall. He also seems to be lingering out of the hotspots he had such a knack for finding in the past. I recall one instance against the Canucks where a big rebound came out to the circle with no defenders around and Hudler skated up from the blueline only to get into a battle for the puck. At that moment I thought, "Two years ago Hudler would've been in position to one-time that one." But sometimes all it takes it one solid game, and all this uncharacteristic play by Hudler will fall by the wayside.

There haven't really been too many hot hands for the Wings of late. Infact, Pavel Datsyuk had been Detroit's most consistent scorer throughout December. But worth mentioning, is the field day Nick Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg had 8 days ago against the Blues. Zetterberg notching up 4 assists with Lidstrom adding an assist to the first ever hat-trick of his incredible career. No doubt the play of this pair will weigh heavily in the minds of the Blues when in their own zone.