The National Hockey League returns to action following the Olympic Break tonight as the Detroit Red Wings visit the Colorado Avalanche.
Colorado forward Paul Stastny, Detroit defenseman Brian Rafalski and Detroit head coach Mike Babcock were all active yesterday, with Babcock's Team Canada downing a Team USA squad featuring Stastny and Rafalski in the Gold Medal Game.
Andreas Lilja will make his first appearance of the season on the Red Wings' blue line, having been cleared to play after suffering post-concussion symptoms for nearly a year. His last game was 366 days ago, February 28, 2009.
I'd been thinking that Lilja's return combined with Rafalski having played three games in five days would lead to Rafalski sitting this one out but I'm not seeing any news on that front. I actually haven't come across any lineup notes.
The Red Wings are as healthy as they've been all season, with Kirk Maltby the only injured player. With Maltby out and Brad May having been sent to Grand Rapids, the Red Wings will dress all 12 healthy forwards. Two defensemen will be scratched, with one of them possibly being dealt for a depth forward before Wednesday's trade deadline.
Why is it on Versus? This is tortureeeeeeeee. 
While Versus is torture, the passing leading to Homer's goal was fantastic.
Wings buzzing early. Pressure drew that penalty.
Late post but a hell of a shot by Franzen to make it 2-0. Great first period for Detroit. Been missing that kind of play all season.
The Wings look awesome tonight!
Hell of a chance on the two-on-one. Great play by whoever got the puck to Cleary at center ice.
Edit: That was Bert.
That is the wrong f*cking call. Homer was way gone by the time the puck was in.
So that's legal but Detroit's goal wasn't. f*cking hell, I hate this game.
Can someone please compile all the bull crap disallowed goals for the Wings this year already and upload to Youtube so people can see that us Wings fans aren't making it up.
Avs with all the momentum since the called off goal.
Versus guys even praising the Colorado goal celebration.
i have 97.1 the ticket on, with no sound on the Versus broadcast so I didn't catch it.
i have 97.1 the ticket on, with no sound on the Versus broadcast so I didn't catch it.
Did they think the called off goal was as good of a call as the Versus guys did?
no the commentator on 97.1, sorry can't recall his name right now, thought it was a bad call and a good goal.
BS call on homer in front of the net again.. call based on assumption that he made contact, goalie flopped
That was a f*cking dive. Anderson fell like he was hit high and Homer didn't do that.
Eaves is still a PK pimp.
this is looking like a typical '09 '10 Wings regular season game. Already a non-goal call that changes the game.
I could be mistaken but I swore I saw Ericcson and Lilja paired together.... Please. No.
I could be mistaken but I swore I saw Ericcson and Lilja paired together.... Please. No.
Yeah. A little bit of terror on seeing those lines before the game. Lilja looks slow but solid so far. Ericsson has only screwed up a few times.
That period was dumbdumbdumbdumbdumb. Considering it's probably going to be like this for the rest of the game, I'm going to sleep now haha. I hope to see better news in the morning.
I don't even need to comment on the called off goal.
I don't even need to comment on the called off goal.
But it'll make you feel better if you do.
Oh my. That was nice.
Not entirely thrilled with what it took but the outcome is enough.
Can someone please compile all the bull crap disallowed goals for the Wings this year already and upload to Youtube so people can see that us Wings fans aren't making it up.
Great idea!
I could be mistaken but I swore I saw Ericcson and Lilja paired together.... Please. No.
Yeah. A little bit of terror on seeing those lines before the game. Lilja looks slow but solid so far. Ericsson has only screwed up a few times.
It occurred to me that it's been so long since we've seen the Wings that I'd forgotten, in some cases, who was on the team!
I, too, thought Lilja looked solid, but Ericsson continues to be a work in progress....
Very, very good to see those great Datsyukian passes....
The Avs are an exceptionally fast team (am I right?), so I won't be too hard on some of the guys/Wings who looked like they were having trouble keeping up....I just thought that having everyone back (however briefly) did cast a bright light on "those who don't belong".
Back under my rock....
It was good that I left, see? I must be bad luck.
And I yelled a lot of obscenities last night because of the goal, and you're right, it DID make me feel better haha.
Brian Rafalski
Credit: Clark Rasmussen
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