The Detroit Red Wings and the Columbus Blue Jackets face off for the third time this season Tuesday night in the first game after the All-Star Break for both teams. The series stands at 2-0 Detroit with three more meetings to come.Detroit will play the game with an empty lineup spot due to a combination of injuries and a punitive measure meted out by the league office. The former is Brad Stuart's sore neck, an injury suffered when harmless contact with Phoenix's Steven Goertzen resulted in a head-first collision with the endboards. Stuart narrowly avoided major injury. He did not skate Monday and is listed as day-to-day. The Wings will also be short Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, in part because of injuries.
The two players were named to the Western Conference All Star team, but withdrew last week due to injury. On Friday, news broke of a likely punishment for that withdrawal: suspension for Lidstrom and Datsyuk should they not show up in Montreal and at least take part in off-ice activities. The suspension stemmed from a gentleman's agreement between the League and the GMs in which players withdrawing from the Game due to injury would sit out the game prior to or following the Game. Over the weekend, the suspension became official.
The unrepentant pair, talking to the media for the first time since the suspension was handed down, said Monday they were not aware of the policy regarding off-ice attendance until Friday. Lidstrom said he still would not have gone to Montreal, telling mLive's Ansar Khan that he felt it was best for Detroit if he worked to get his tendonitis treated. Datsyuk told Khan he might not have been able to play in Columbus in any case due to a hip soreness that caused him to leave the game in Phoenix. He skated yesterday, but opted out of sprint drills.
Because of the Wings' salary cap situation, they are stuck dressing 17 skaters (and two goalies) against the Blue Jackets rather than the usual 18. They would have been down two men had Johan Franzen (hip) not healed to the point of being able to play. Because of their cap situation, no call-ups from the team's AHL affiliate can be made.
Chris Osgood will get the start for Detroit.
The Blue Jackets are 5-4-1 in 2009 and 1-2-1 in their last four. They stand three points back of Anaheim for the 8th seed in the West and are just one of a number of teams on the playoff bubble in the conference. They're sure to have jump tonight.
Chris Mason will get the start tonight, despite skipping out on the All Star Game festivities as well.
The holes in the Wings' roster brings the odds as close to even as the Jackets are likely to see this season. It'll be up to them to take advantage. They certainly have the skilled personnel to take a game from a depleted Detroit team. It will be up to those men in the Wings' shorthanded lineup, however, to make up for the absence of Lidstrom, Datsyuk, and Stuart. A Detroit win tonight won't make the suspension a moot point, but it will avoid some the backlash likely to come with a loss.
