The 13-17-3 Blues have had a rough season so far. They won as recently as Saturday, but lost the five games prior to that and again on Sunday. They are 27th in the League and last in the West as well as the Central Division. The young team that held a reasonable amount of promise to the Blues hopeful at the start of the season is living up to my expectations.
The loss to Boston on Sunday drew head coach Andy Murray's ire. He threw half the team under the proverbial bus after the game, calling out players by name and in turn angering veteran Blues forward Keith Tkachuk. Murray's frustration is understandable, but calling out his team after losing to the #2 team in the League seems a bit much.
He has since rejected the opportunity to soften his words, a choice that will bear fruit one way or another tonight. Will his players take out their frustration on the Wings or will they start a mutiny in response to their coach's having crossed the line? I'm betting on the former, with the mutiny coming later.
The Wings have posted a 22-6-4 record through 32 games and have remained steadily in the second slot in the West behind San Jose for weeks now despite playing below average defensively. They have won their last two games, but were 1-2 in the three games prior to that. They are coming off a come-from-behind win over the Kings n Saturday, a game that followed perhaps their best of the season, a 6-0 rout of the Sharks.
The big question this morning was who would back up Ty Conklin. Chris Osgood has not practiced with the team in a week due to a groin injury, but was slated to test his condition out in the morning skate today. If he did not feel up to snuff, he'ldgo on the LTIR and would have to sit out the next seven games. In that case, Jimmy Howard would be the likely call-up from Grand Rapids. Otherwise, Osgood would back Conklin up tonight. Well the result of the skate is in and there will be no LTIR for Osgood, who will have at least one more night of charting faceoffs from the bench.
It should be an interesting game as we look to see how the Blues will react to Murray's comments while the Wings look to put on a better performance than the one that nearly lost them the game Saturday. Historically, these matchups get fairly emotional and tonight may be no exception.
