The trenches are bloodied, but we’re just finally reaching the real enemy. The warstrought Motor City is about to get a whole lot uglier when the Canucks come calling!
Or is it?
The Red Wings have managed to pull off 2 wins since their initial disappointing (and weird) loss to the Leafs. They haven’t been outright dominant so far, but then, they’re just getting back into things after a too-short summer. They’ve already stopped by the White House, and are considered to be one of the deepest teams in the league in decades. So are the mediocre Canucks really going to have anything to say about the outcome of this one?
After their stupid loss to Washington the other day, they’d better.
The Canucks haven’t actually done too poorly against the Wings in recent years. Despite the fact that they can’t beat teams like the Sharks, the Wings — their superiors — have often struggled to put down the defensive-minded Canucks. That’s probably largely because the Wings aren’t overly physical.
But this year, Vancouver’s trying to add a bit of grit to their game. And they need to show now how well they can fare against the Cup defenders. The Wings aren’t going to put in a full effort, since this is virtually vacation time for them, and Zetterberg may be out with a mild injury. If the ‘Nucks can come out of the gates full-force, they may have a shot at winning this one. Thus far, though, they’ve been terrible at the start of games, including Washington, where they only had 2 shots on goal in the first period. If they don’t do better in the first frame, the Wings’ll eat them for lunch.
Prediction: 5-0 Wings. The Canucks haven’t learned their lesson yet.
More games of interest:
Washington at Pittsburgh: These two teams are amongst the most hyped-up rivalries in the league right now, thanks to Sid and Ovi. But the Caps have started blazing hot, while the Pens have been so-so. Most prominently, Crosby has only 2 assists in 4 games. The blame so far seems to be going towards Pens’ management, since they haven’t supplied the Kid with any real talent to play with. The Pens still have punch though, and against Theodore they stand as good a shot of winning as anything. Prediction: 5-4 Penguins. Let’s see a scorefest!
