Johan Franzen doubled his previous playoff scoring total in one game.

Perfect timing for the Detroit Red Wings.

Franzen had a natural hat trick in a 3:26 span of the first period, scored a fourth goal in the third and set a team playoff record with six points as Detroit stayed alive with a 7-1 rout of the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals.

“Hopefully, I can get some confidence and the team can get some confidence,” Franzen said. “I’ve been struggling on the goal-scoring side.”

Franzen had just two goals in the first 10 playoff games. The burly forward known as “Mule” scored 25 times the previous two postseasons for the two-time defending Western Conference champions.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

Jimmy Howard bounced back.

The Detroit Red Wings did, too.

Howard had a 29-save shutout, Henrik Zetterberg scored twice and Pavel Datsyuk had a goal, leading Detroit to a 3-0 series-evening win over the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Howard’s saves included one without his helmet.

“I’m going to enjoy it here for a couple minutes,” said Howard, who gave up four goals to lose Game 3. “Then, just like I did the other night, forget about it and get ready for Friday night.”

That’s when fourth-seeded Phoenix will back at home for Game 5.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

The Detroit Red Wings once were major players on trade deadline day. Those days are gone, mostly because of the NHL’s salary cap.

“It looks like we’re not going to be very active,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said Tuesday.

The Red Wings are right against the $56.8 million cap, so Holland said any move they make would require them to shed equal or more salary. Now that the team is almost completely healthy for the first time this season, Holland likes his roster and doesn’t feel any urgency to deal.

“I look at our trade deadline acquisitions as being (Johan) Franzen, (Andreas) Lilja and (Niklas) Kronwall,” Holland said of the players who recently returned from long-term injuries. “I still believe we have a good team. I don’t foresee us doing anything of any significance.”

That hasn’t prevented other teams from calling. Holland said he had spoken with three or four GMs in the past couple days.

“They’re offering decent players, veteran guys who will be unrestricted free agents (after the season), but they’ve got serious cap numbers,” Holland said. “We can’t get into that game. We don’t want to get into that game.

“I don’t believe I can make a move that will make us better.”

Click here to read the full article – By Michigan Live

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The average age on Team USA men’s hockey roster is 26 1/2 . Defenseman Brian Rafalski, the lone Red Wing on the team, is 36.

There’s nothing he can do about that, but one thing is certain: “I don’t want to be here just because I’m the old guy with experience,” he said. “Obviously, I know I can contribute.”

Rafalski is one of three players with Olympic experience on a team that will play its first game of the Winter Games this afternoon against Switzerland.

Rafalski, an alternate captain for Team USA, also was a member of the 2002 Salt Lake team that lost to Canada in the gold medal game and the 2006 Torino team that lost to Finland in the quarterfinals.

Click here to read the full article – By Detroit Free Fress

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Forward Tomas Holmstrom left Detroit Red Wings practice early today and is questionable to play Thursday, when the Wings host the San Jose Sharks. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall is definitely out, coach Mike Babcock said.

Holmstrom has been bothered by a bruised left knee suffered Saturday at Los Angeles and missed Tuesday’s 4-3 shoot-out loss at St. Louis.

“I felt pretty good to start with,” Holmstrom said. “But then I got a pain in my knee, and when I started doing drills and going hard, I got really sore and was in pain. But there is big difference from yesterday to today. And I still was out there for 40 minutes (in practice), but I didn’t go that hard. I hope I play tomorrow, but we need to see if the sharp pain is going away.”

The injury is serious enough that Holmstrom, who missed a month with a broken foot in January, is questioning his readiness for the Olympics, which begin next week. He’s part of Team Sweden.

“I’ve started to worry about the Olympics, a little bit,” Holmstrom said. “I need some games. I’ve been out before this, too. So, yeah. But all you can do is just see, day-to-day.”

Click here to read the full article – By Detroit Free Fress

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Detroit Red Wings defenseman Andreas Lilja has been assigned to the Grand Rapids Griffins on long-term injured-reserve conditioning loan, general manager Ken Holland said this evening.

Lilja went to Grand Rapids today.

“He’ll practice tomorrow, and then play Wednesday, Friday and Saturday,” Holland said. “We’ll probably decide by Saturday whether we appeal for two more games, but it certainly appears that way.”

Lilja has not played since suffering a concussion while fighting Nashville’s Shea Weber last Feb. 28. Lilja is attempting to return to the Wings’ lineup, and the team determined that it’s best if that begins with a stint in the American Hockey League.

Click here to read the full article – By Detroit Free Fress

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Todd Bertuzzi broke into a big grin. After 22 fruitless shots over nine games, he finally fired the puck — and saw it sink in behind the goaltender.

Was that smile a sign of pure relief?

“To say the least,” Bertuzzi said. “I love to score, and when you’re not scoring, it’s not that much fun. I just shot it on net. I think he thought I was going to make the pass, because I know Turcs really well, and he knows me from playing against me. So I think he thought I was just going to throw it cross-crease. So it caught him short side.”

Bertuzzi’s fourth goal was set up by Pavel Datsyuk, his linemate for the past several weeks — many of them frustrating as the two, along with Tomas Holmstrom, went game after game without producing.

Click here to read the full article – By Detroit Free Fress

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With three regulars among the forwards out of the lineup, the Red Wings are getting more and more use out of two of their newest members.

Drew Miller topped 13 minutes in the Wings’ 4-3 shoot-out victory Saturday against St. Louis, the most he has played since first suiting up for the Wings on Nov. 12 after being picked up off waivers from Carolina. Patrick Eaves, signed in August as a free agent, played nearly 15, the most in eight games, and set up Kris Draper’s goal.

“Eaver has created his own identity here with this team and that’s something that is helping everyone here,” Draper said. “We had a big turnover this summer and players were finding their way in here, finding the structure and system that we want to play. …

“Eaver is one of the guys that certainly is playing with a lot of confidence right now, and that’s what you need.”

Click here to read the full article – By Detroit Free Fress

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Detroit coach Mike Babcock appeared irked Saturday afternoon when asked about a comment made by Blues center Jay McClement following Friday’s 4-3 win over the Red Wings.

“We haven’t had a lot of success against (Detroit) the last few years,” McClement said. “We started to at the end of last year … a couple of big games at a big time of the year for us. I think guys are starting to learn how to play against them.”

Babcock said that he hears that kind of talk “every year” and then added, “Let’s just watch.”

Babcock was singing a different tune after the Blues won 5-3 Saturday, taking both games in Sweden. The Red Wings coughed up a two-goal lead in each.

“I thought St. Louis played really well in both games,” Babcock said. “I thought they played hard for 60 minutes in both games and I thought they were the better team in both games.

Click here to read the full article – By Jeremy Rutherford of St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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From practices to a preseason game to a pep rally, the Red Wings have been going nonstop since arriving in Stockholm on Monday morning.

They finally start the 2009-10 season tonight at the Globe Arena against St. Louis, part of the NHL Premiere event in Stockholm. Regardless of the outcome, the Wings will be the winners with Swedish fans — they have eight countrymen on their roster compared with one Swede for the Blues.

On Thursday, the Wings took part in a rally at Stockholm’s Central Station, where several hundred fans gathered to see the Wings and the Blues officially welcomed to the city by Madeleine Sjöstedt, Stockholm’s Minister of Culture and Sports.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg have been the fan favorites, drawing the loudest applause when they stepped on the ice Wednesday for the exhibition game at Karlstad.

For the games at the Globe, Zetterberg has had to secure 80 tickets per night to satisfy friends and family.

Click here to read the full article – By Helene St. James of Detroit Free Fress

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