Today’s Picks: Take the Wings at “Home”
0-2: Well who expected Evgeni Nabokov and Roberto Luongo and their highly-regarded teams to choke so hard. In games where 3/4 goalies could be Vezina Trophy finalists, a collective 15 goals were scored. Tough day for everyone, but it’s time to regroup! See below for my picks.
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The Wings will be led by their six Swedish players (Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Franzen, Holmstrom, Kronwall and Ericsson) suiting up for this match while the Blues will only have two (Berglund and Steen). As a result, this will feel like more of a home game for the Wings players, who will likely be the crowd favourites in Sweden. The Blues looked great this preseason but the Wings are still a premier, dominant team and will play this game hard. Detroit was 5-1 against the Blues last season and 7-2-1 in their last 10 meetings, averaging 3.5 goals for and over 33 shots per game. During the same stretch, the Blues averaged only 2.2 goals for and 26 shots per game. The only question mark here will be the play of Chris Osgood but in true Red Wings style, they will find a way to keep the puck out of their end and make things difficult for Chris Mason.
Pick: Wings -150
Let’s get this season going!