Admittedly, the Kings have been struggling of late, winning only two of their last 9 games, while the Red Wings have been the opposite, losing only two of their last 11. It's never a simple task to win in Los Angeles though (0-2 in 2009/10), particularly when it's the second of back-to-back games.
Babcock makes a few small changes to the line-up that blanked the Ducks 4-0 last night, with the return of a few injured vets from their ailments. Kris Draper will in his first game of the season after his groin injury suffered in training camp became a sports hernia and ended up setting him back another month or so. Osgood missed all of November with his strained groin but will make his first start since October 30.
It'll be a challenge for Ozzy. There's no doubt he's a champion player and a great servant to the Red Wings organization. He's had some tougher times of late and seems to be finding it difficult to settle into the role of back-up for Jimmy Howard. I hope Ozzy can find a way to get back to form and help Jimmy out with the workload a bit. It's a very serious concern for me how much Howard is being played and I just hope Osgood can make himself a reliable alternative when needed.
It's going to be a tough test, there's no doubt about it. Most of the signs point to a Detroit loss to be honest. Back-to-back games after a rough opponent, [possibly] rusty Chris Osgood in net and just the fact that the Wings have a tendency to lose after some solid wins makes me a little iffy about this one. I guess we'll see just how good the Winged Wheelers are.
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