Hot Wings Get Fifth Straight; Red Wings 1, Preds 0 (SO)

Maybe I should be cut off from the outside world in Miami more often. Believe it or not, the Red Wings have now set a season high win-streak of 5 wins. Yep, five. The win, coupled with another loss for the Flames all but secures a playoff birth for Detroit as 9th-placed Calgary is now 8 points behind.

Anyway, onto the game...

The Red Wings continued their dominance of the season series with Nashville tonight, with an important road win over the only other team that has been as hot as Detroit.

Contrary to what may be assumed from the uninspired final scoreline, the game saw its fair share of great scoring chances from both sides, but conservative attacks, rough ice and some exceptional goaltending from two young netminders, kept the game scoreless through 65 minutes.

Wow Factor

In the third period, a turnover from Johan Franzen in the Red Wings zone resulted in a brilliantly set up play from Nashville. A perfect tic-tac-toe exchange gave David Legwand an open shot from the slot with a gaping net in front of him. Legwand got the shot off quick, but Jimmy Howard shut the door, getting his left pad over in time to keep the Wings in it.

Special Teams

Obviously all penalties were successfully killed in this one with Nashville going 0-3 and Detroit going 0-2.

In Net

- Jimmy Howard stopped all 33 shots from the Predators for his second career shutout.

- Pekka Rinne continued his phenomenal run, stopping 38 shots for Nashville for his fourth shutout of the month!

The Shootout

Detroit participated in their longest shootout in franchise history. The game-decider lasted 11 rounds, with Todd Bertuzzi and Steve Sullivan both converting in the 5th round. Howard and Rinne each made five more saves until Niklas Kronwall found Rinne's 5-hole to score what turned out to be the winner, after Howard shut the door on Francois Bouillon, giving the Wings the two-points.

Next...

The Wings go back home for a three-game home-stand, the first game being on Tuesday against the Edmonton Oilers. Detroit still seeks their first win over the last-placed Oilers in the final of four contests between the two clubs this season.

Big Points on the Line Vs. Preds

Just like the 81 other games this season, it's worth just the two points, but in the context of current situation the Wings face, it's about the biggest two points of the season thus far.

Currently, Detroit sits 8th in the West with a meager one point lead on 9th-placed Calgary. Just ahead in the standings, in 7th, is Nashville with 75 points meaning a regulation win for the Red Wings will bring them within 3 points of the Preds.

So far, Detroit leads the season series 2-1, two games being hosted by Nashville. It's feasible that the result of the season series could be an important advantage at the end of the season if the standings continue to tighten as they might.

The Red Wings are coming off a disappointing 6-3 home loss against Vancouver, while Nashville are aiming at their fourth straight win after getting by the young, but impressive L.A. Kings last night.

Todd Bertuzzi acknowledged the team's poor perforamce on Wednesday and says it's being addressed, "(Wednesday) was pretty much unacceptable, especially against a team coming in after playing the night before. The performance we gave was just not right. We addressed it, and we’ve got the same scenario coming in tomorrow -- Nashville is playing (Thursday), and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready."

An improved performance will definitely be required or Detroit faces the unwelcome situation of being 7 points in arrears of the 7th-place in the West.

Lines were shuffled for Thursday's practice with these lines skating:
Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Franzen
Cleary - Zetterberg - Williams
Bertuzzi - Filppula - Miller

With Pekka Rinne starting for Nashville last night and Jimmy Howard's uncharacteristically bad game against Vancouver, the starters in net are uncertain for now.