TV: Sportsnet, NHL Network, NBC Sports "WENDESDAY NIGHT RIVALRY!"
Radio: Fan590
SBN Rival: Winging it in Motwon

The Leafs are coming off a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames, and jumping right into the next game against the Detroit Red Wings. Toronto dominated the second period last night, but were out shot in both the first and third periods. Clearly they were saving their energy for the more important match up against the Division rival Red Wings than the whatever Westerners from Calgary.

The Red Wings have been resting since Sunday when they beat Carolina 3-1. Hopefully their confidence is too high right now, because, come on, it was Carolina, whoop dee doo.

To fan the flames of the usual goalie argument, we'd assume Reimer is starting tonight but hey maybe Randy is just screwing with you guys. Did you ever think about that? Maybe he really will play Bernier tonight and we can have a close up on Reimer looking sad at the end of the bench. You guys would love that fuel to your fire eh?

(Upping comment count should make me look more attractive as a writer, so said my professor at the Sun Media Skool of Riting)

No morning skate today for the Leafs so we can assume not much is changing, goalie will probably be out closer to game time.

Detroit morning skate info:

Detroit sits 1st in the Eastern conference, 4th overall in the League, tied with Tampa Bay in points, but have a game in hand. This is the team that will not die. I mean, no one took Datsyuk in my fantasy draft because everyone thought he'd be out a good chunk of the season. Every year someone picks Detroit to "finally fall from grace" and miss the playoffs, but nope, they will not do that. It's great for their fans, but COME ON. Detroit is 8-2 in their last 10 games, to the Leafs 6-3-1.

Let's learn a bit about our opponents:

Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in points and assists with 24 (5G, 19A) in 28 games.

Pavel Datsyuk leads the team in goals with 12 in 17 games

Kyle Quincey leads in penalty minutes 33 to go along with 6 points (1G, 5A)

Detroit is 8th in the NHL in CF%, and 9th in PDO with 100.9.

Make of those numbers what you will, but what they don't tell you is how much I irrationally want this team to lose. I on't know why, maybe it's splashing the name HOCKEYTOWN across centre ice, or all of those division championship banners hanging in the rafters (YOU'VE WON 11 STANLEY CUPS, WHY POLLUTE THE RAFTERS LIKE AN EXPANSION TEAM? STOP BEING DESPERATE FOR LOVE). Maybe it's the shitty pizza that the owners sling (yeah, I'd love a pizza that's been prepped so far in advance it's sitting there ready for me to walk out of the store with). Maybe it's just the irrational love a lot of media and fans have for this superstar franchise that's made the playoffs like some show off, and they got Zetterberg in the 7th round so their scouts are dynamite! Adding in the "Keeping Randy until Babcock leaves Detroit" crap doesn't help.

Whatever it is, all I can say is GO LEAFS GO!

*TWENTY THREE STRAIGHT PLAYOFFS! SO MUCH BITCHING ABOUT THEIR TRAVEL!
**SO MANY SUPERSTARS IN THE LATE ROUNDS! JIMMIE SVENSSON! LOGAN KOOPMANS! SERGEI KOLOSOV!
***$300 MILLION FROM BANKRUPT DETROIT FOR A NEW ARENA FOR A FAMILY WORTH $4.2 BILLION