A Cruel Return to Dallas for Mo

His #9 will one day hang from the rafters of the American Airlines Center, but of all the memories Mike Modano has had in the building, this would rank among the most forgettable.

The Dallas Stars franchise's greatest on-ice servant received a classy standing ovation from the locals but that proved to be the highlight of his night as the Red Wings skated to a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of his former team-mates.

From the get-go nothing seemed to go right for Detroit. Whilst only sporting a 1-0 deficit at the first break, the signs weren't good. A horrible Lidstrom turnover and a Franzen injury... uh oh!

But the second frame was where it got ugly.

The puck seemed to bounce off skates and in on one end, but just couldn't do likewise at the other. Throw in some sloppy coverage and a puck or two off the post, and you got a 4-0 game after two.

Osgood was not good, but neither was anyone else. A consolation PP goal in the third period gave the Wings a semblance of respectability on the scoreboard but not much else.

Moving forward it didn't look to be getting any better. Franzen's concussion was never good news and just to make things worse, Daniel Cleary crashed into the boards in practise earlier today. The updated diagnoses of both were good however, as Franzen said he felt good today and hopes to be able to go Saturday night against the Coyotes and Dan Cleary's knee injury scare appears to be just that... a scare.

It was looking for a while like the Wings may have been forced to dress 16 or 17 skaters in Phoenix, hopefully that's not the case. A reprieve from this tumultuous tackle with the injury bug will go a long way to getting the Red Wings back to winning form.

Preview vs. San Jose; Kronwall out

After a grueling and, at times, disheartening road trip, the Red Wings return home with a chance to sweep a season series against the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks and turn momentum to their favour heading into the Olympic break. Detroit's bid to get back into the playoff picture may be boosted by the addition of Tomas Holmstrom into the lineup.

"It was a big difference from yesterday to today,'' Holmstrom said. "It's going to be a big test for sure. I need to get these games. It's going to be a tough one for sure, but I may as well get into it right away.''

Brad May will skate in the pre-game warmups as a back-up should Holmstrom be unfit to action. Homer is recovering from a bruised left knee he sustained in Los Angeles last week.

Niklas Kronwall is also being troubled with knee problems. Since suffering a realtively minor sprain in November, he has had difficulty returning to full health and, although the condition of his knee is reported to be improving, he has been ruled out for tonight's clash with the Sharks.

"It feels better today than yesterday, so I'm taking a step in the right direction,'' Kronwall said.

Detroit will need to be at their best tonight after a less than impressive outing against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. They'll look to take advantage of a travelling road team, as the Sharks are on the second of back-to-back games tonight after a 3-0 shutout loss to Steve Mason and the Blue Jackets. Wings' fans might also take heart in knowing that in the 3 previous meetings this season between these two rivals, a much more undermanned Detroit team has won all three, two of them fairly easily.

Jimmy Howard is expected to start in goal once again.