Mar. 3: I bet she gives great helmet

Ah...Vancouver! The city of wonders...of understatement and non-hyperbole. Just a quiet little Canadian hamlet where Americans can escape to for pristine skiing, a liberal drug enforcement culture and random Kim Cattrall sightings.

...wait, this game's in Detroit? Ah, f'it. Damn you Olympics for making me think everything happens up there now.

WHAT'S ALL THIS THEN?

We kicked off our post-Olympics push with a nice win against Colorado on Monday...a game that the NHL generously scheduled about 30 minutes after Stevie and Babs crawled out from under that pile of government-funded strippers after the gold medal game. The Wings' hold on that 8th spot is a precarious one. Every game from here on out is a biggie, but perhaps none bigger than than the games against teams we might actually see in the first round. As a top seed in the West, Vancouver is one of those potential early playoff matchups. Should be a nice measuring stick.

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

1. 20 games left. 70 points. 8th seed. Every week this turns more and more into a numbers game. Realistically, there's only 2 open spots for us and a handful of other d-bag teams I don't want to get jumped by.
2. ...that said, with a solid push, we might be able to catch Colorado for that 6 seed. Who wouldn't love to see that happen?
3. She-tuzzi back to Vancouver.
4. Please...dear Jehovah...stop with the "Stevie out of Motown" rumors.
5. Seriously, just stop.

NOW WHERE WERE WE?

Third meeting of the season. Detroit won on 11/12 in VAN and on 10/27 in Motown.

OH, HI AGAIN / MEMBA ME?! / BEST NAME NOMINEE

There's actually some heat here...nice!

• The ever-loquacious Samuelsson and Matty Schneider are both 'Nucks
• TPL favorite and the man you'd most like to leave your newborn with while you and the missus go out for a Friday night movie, The Mantuzzi, is a former Canuck.
• Best Name Nominee goes to Tanner "Tanner? I hardley new her!" Glass

THEIR LAST GAMES

--Detroit jailsexed The Dive 3-2 Monday

--Vancouver collectively shook off it's Rosby-gasm to beat the BJ's (laugh, it's OK) 4-3 on Tuesday

RECORDS

--Detroit Red Wings ::29-21-12 (3rd in the Central, 8th in the West) :: 16-8-5 at home

--Vancouver Canucks ::38-22-2 (1st Northwest, 3rd in the West) ::15-15-1 on the road

CANUCKS SHOULD KNOW

Sedins :: Luongo: Kurt Browning :: "Everything I Do, I Do It For You :: Timbits :: Shania Twain :: Ryan Kesler :: Neil Young (really...totally thought this guy was American) :: The guy who "co-discovered" superfluidity

EXPECTED LINEUP

Can't find the expected lineup, so I'm going with the last available mockups. Deal. It worked last game, why tinker?

Franzen -- Datsyuk -- Holmstrom
Cleary -- Zetterberg -- Bertuzzi
Miller -- Filppula -- Williams
Draper -- Helm -- Eaves

Lidstrom -- Rafalski

Kronwall -- Stuart
Ericsson -- Lilja

Howard (starting)

Osgood

Today's theme comes straight from the trade deadline live chat where Space Balls talk was frolicking wild like Hulkamania.
Scratch

Brett "Oh great. That's all we needed. A Druish princess. " Lebda
Derek "Thank you for pressing the self destruct button. " Meech

Injuries
Kirk "The Schwartz! " Maltby

Honorable Mention
Darren "Yes, we're gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed." Helm
Jason "Snotty beamed me twice last night. It was wonderful." Williams
Todd "He's an asshole, sir." Bertuzzi
Chris "We ain't found shit!" Osgood

QUICK THOUGHTS

1. Still evaluating Lilja.
2. Mule...keep the flame burning, big fella.
3. Raffy returning to old form? Were the Olympics "the exception or the rule?"

WHAT WE LEARNED against the Avalanche

Dangle is back. Dangle is back.

CANNUCK WE COVET (JJ Special)
In the livechat, we batted around the Luongo/Pavel trade talk of olde, but this is no place for rational thought. Already too much of that going on here as it is. Instead, we're taking you all the way back to 1992, to a year when Canadian-born Pamela Anderson was hard at work melting my television screen. I once saw an episode of Baywatch when I was out of the country. No subtittles and I couldn't understand a word they said. The experience was identical to watching it at home. The power of the universal human experience. Embrace what unites us!