Weekly Preview: January 22-28, 2012

Week: January 22-28, 2012

The All Star Break comes at a good time to give the Detroit Red Wings a much needed rest. After playing 8 games in two weeks they only have 2 games this week before the brief recess. However, they can't start cruising yet as Monday they have a huge game against Division Rivals the St. Louis Blues.

Game 1: St. Louis Blues (@ Home)

This is Detroit's biggest game since playing the Chicago Blackhawks in that epic Saturday afternoon showdown January 14th. Not only is it a Divisional match-up its against the red hot St. Louis Blues who are close in pursuit of Detroit's lead a top the Central Division, Western Conference, and NHL.

Similar to the Wings, St. Louis is on a roll with a 4 game win streak. However, this streak has been against weaker opponents (Minnesota, Dallas, Edmonton, and Buffalo). The best ranked opponent in this streak is Minnesota, who sits in 9th place in the Western Conference. The thing the Blues have going for them however is goaltender Jaroslav Halak. After posting back-to-back shut-outs against Dallas and Edmonton, he has posted a 1.00 GAA in his last 4 games with a 0.955% save percentage during this time.

Despite the fact that most of the Wings wins have been 3-2 OT/SO victories, their big guns have been contributing. However, they need all the big guns firing at the same time if they want to get enough goals to secure a win.

A win here could start to put distant behind the Wings and the rest of their Division and would be a good way to head in to the All-Star Break.

Game 2: @Montreal Canadiens

Some life was breathed into the Montreal Canadiens season after upsetting their lifelong rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on January 21st. They still are in 11th place in the East, 7 points back of 8th place, but their win over the Leafs kept the Leafs from taking the 8th spot and was a huge win over a team that they'll need to beat again if they want to climb back into the thick of things. The Red Wings should be well rested having a full day off since playing St. Louis and if they can continue having some hot goaltending from Jimmy Howard, and if the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi, Jiri Hudler, Valterri Filppula, and Johan Franzen can continue their scoring ways victory for the Wings should be imminent.
The Habs are looking to start a play-off push, but the Wings will be looking to head into the All-Star Break a top the NHL standings breaking away from the rest of the pack. So both teams should be firing on all cylinders