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Canucks, Red Wings collide in Motown

Mar 23, 2011 - 3:40 PM (Sports Network) - The top-two teams in the Western Conference will meet tonight in the Motor City, as the Detroit Red Wings welcome the Vancouver Canucks to Joe Louis Arena.

The Canucks have already clinched the Northwest Division crown, and with 103 points they are also sitting atop the West and NHL standings. Vancouver is six points ahead of Philadelphia in the race for the Presidents' Trophy and is eight in front of the second-seeded Red Wings for the conference lead.

This marks the fourth and final regular-season meeting of the year between the Canucks and Wings. Vancouver won the first encounter, but the Red Wings have taken the last two matchups after regulation.

Overall, Detroit has won six of eight and seven out of 10 in this series and the Canucks have dropped three of four and five of their last seven tests in Motown.

The Canucks should be well-rested for this evening's tilt and will try to avoid losing two straight for the first time since January. Vancouver had a seven-game winning streak snapped when it played Friday evening in Phoenix and the Canucks haven't lost two in a row since a four-game slide from Jan. 16-22.

Vancouver was dealt a 3-1 setback by the visiting Coyotes on Friday, as Phoenix backup goaltender Jason LaBarbera made 46 saves to frustrate the Canucks.

Christian Ehrhoff was the only Canucks player to solve LaBarbera on Friday, while Roberto Luongo stopped 26-of-28 shots in the loss.

"I thought it was a good game and we played really hard," said Luongo. "He (LaBarbera) has played real good for them. It would have been nice to come away with two points but that doesn't happen every game."

The Canucks were expecting to be without one of their best players tonight, as Daniel Sedin, who is currently leading the NHL with 93 points, initially stayed in Vancouver to be with his wife for the birth of their daughter. However, his wife has since delivered the baby and Sedin left for Detroit on Tuesday, meaning he is expected to play tonight.

Vancouver, however, is not expected to have former Red Wing forward Mikael Samuelsson in the lineup tonight. Samuelsson is sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

In other injury news for the Canucks, it was announced Monday that forward Manny Malhotra will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing eye surgery. Malhotra suffered the injury against Colorado last Wednesday, when he was hit in the eye by a shot from Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson.

Vancouver is playing the first of four straight on the road this evening. The Canucks have won five in a row as the guest and are 22-9-4 as the guest this season.

Detroit has lost two in a row, but the Red Wings did well to earn a point in Monday's shootout loss to the visiting Penguins. James Neal eventually gave Pittsburgh the 5-4 win with his goal in the final round of the shootout, but not before the Red Wings rallied from three goals down in the third period.

The Wings had also been down by four goals before scoring their first marker late in the second period.

"Our guys really battled and we're able to rally to get a point," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. "It was nice to see that, I mean it would have been nice to get the second one, but we'll take it, especially after the start that we had."

Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula each posted a goal and an assist for the Red Wings. Jimmy Howard gave up four goals on 15 shots before being pulled in the second period. Joey McDonald finished the game in net and stopped 10 shots.

Howard is expected to start tonight's game and veteran netminder Chris Osgood could serve as the backup. Osgood has been sidelined with a groin injury for months and last played on Jan. 4.

Detroit forwards Pavel Datsyuk (lower body), Todd Bertuzzi (lower body) Johan Franzen (undisclosed) and Jiri Hudler (illness) are all expected to miss tonight's tilt.

The Red Wings are 19-11-5 as the host this season.