Wings at Blue Jackets

The Hat Trick is happy to see that the Red Wings have returned to their winning ways after a disastrous slump that included a 4 – 2 loss to the Washington Capitals on January 31. Tonight the Wings face the division rival Columbus Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio with a six game winning streak in place. This is a big improvement over the five game losing streak they compiled in January although the Hat Trick didn’t panic this year (unlike last winter during the six game losing streak the Wings endured) because things worked out pretty well for the Wings last year (for the non-hockey fan readers…the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup). Tonight Detroit will be looking for a win in a season high seventh game consecutive win streak.

Columbus also has a lot on the line tonight as they are working hard to get into the top eight in the Western Conference standings, guaranteeing them a playoff spot. Currently outside the top eight, the Blue Jackets are only two points behind the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild who are tired for the eight spot in the Western Conference.

Should be a good game between division rivals…hopefully the Red Wings can avoid any Friday the 13th curses and get that seventh win!

Wings Lose 4 -2

The third period killed the Wings when Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals that put the Capitals ahead 4-2. The Wings never recovered. This puts Detroit on a five game losing streak and also signifies that the days of the Wings coming into the Caps rink and cleaning up are over. Ovechkin’s goals were extremely impressive and the Caps played a solid game for all three periods. While the Hat Trick wishes that his Wings had come out on top I am glad to see the Caps have such good success. If they keep playing the way they are they should go deep in the Eastern Conference playoffs this spring.

Wings-Caps Tied After Two Periods

Caps go up by one on a nice goal by Mike Green but Wings come right back with a power play goal by Johan Franzen. Second period is now complete with a tie game at two apiece. Looks like the whole game is going to be tight…

Wings-Caps Series Update

Update from Washington Capitals announcer Joe Beninati (sometimes seen doing play-by-play on Versus) just reported that the last time the Caps beat the Wings in Washington was Halloween 2000 so it’s been a while for the Caps.

Wings-Caps Tied After One Period

It looks like we’ve got a game…end of the first period with a 1-1 score. The Wings scored first with a goal by Ville Leino (first NHL career goal) but the Caps followed up with a nice goal by Viktor Kozlov.

Looks like we are going to have a good game…only wish I could be there in person!

Red Wings In the Hat Trick's Backyard

The Hat Trick is sitting down to watch the Red Wings play the hometown Capitals this afternoon. Attending the game in person was not an option due to my soon-to-be unemployment status so will have to be content with seeing the game on the widescreen.

The Wings have been in a bit of a slide lately having last their last four games…two before the All-Star break and two after the game. I’m hoping they can stop the skid against the Caps today but that could be a tall order. While recent game history shows the Wings have handled the Caps pretty well (and the Hat Trick has had the privilege to view many of those games here in DC) the Caps are a much better team…Washington currently is leading the Southeast Division and is in third place in points total in the NHL’s Eastern Conference. As a result the Wings are going to have their hands full during this game…hopefully it will be a good one and not like Thursday night’s loss to the Dallas Stars in the JLA where the Wings had to climb out of a big hole and weren’t able to get it done. We’ll see if they can do any better against the Caps this afternoon.

Shanahan, Part II

Some additional information, compliments of NJ.com, on how Shanny stayed in shape before joining the New Jersey Devils this month...not what you would normally expect!