Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

St. James: Hudler Sits, Lines Shift

04/19/2007 at 5:14pm EDT
Updated 1520 EST: Khan (!) spoke with Babcock who commented on the fact that Hasek chose not to practice today after participating in yesterday's optional fun-fest.
Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek never misses a gameday skate when he’s starting. So when Hasek didn’t take the ice Thursday morning in the Saddledome, it raised some questions about his health. But, coach Mike Babcock said everything’s fine. Hasek is starting tonight in Game 4, he just didn’t feel like facing shots in the morning.“He chose not to (practice),’’ Babcock said. “Dom wanted to (practice) yesterday, (when) we felt we needed an optional for our guys, we felt we had a lot of guys who shouldn’t skate.’’
Oh...neat.If the morning skate is a true indicator, you've been ignored.Helene St. James blogs that the faces will remain, the lines could very well change.
Based on the morning skate, it looks like the Red Wings will field two new lines tonight when they will attempt to take a 3-1 lead in the first-round series against Calgary.Robert Lang will have two new wingers in Todd Bertuzzi and Johan Franzen.Valtteri Filppula will be out with Kyle Calder and Mikael Samuelsson.Lang had been playing with Calder and Samuelsson the first three games of the series, but while the line was responsible defensively, it didn’t generate much offense.
So, here we are:Hank/Datsyuk/Homer Franzen/Lang/Bertuzzi Maltby/Draper/Cleary Samuelsson/Filpulla/CalderNo Hudler. No sack for Babcock. Another pointless night for Samuelsson and a loss? Light the torches.

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