So he wasn't exactly kidding....

Alright....so according to Ansar Khan, below are the lines we should expect to see tomorrow night against the flames.

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary
Hudler-Filppula-Franzen (Hossa working in)
Holmstrom-Kopecky-Samuelsson
Meech-Draper-Maltby

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Ericsson-Lebda

Conklin (starting)

First things first. Earlier today I dismissed Babcock's comment regarding alternating the goalies for home and aways games as his attempt to toy with us...maybe give us a little giggle. We at least deserve that right....

Well apparently he was at least slightly serious as he does in fact break his typical rotation and has ConkBlock starting on Thursday and Osgood starting on Saturday. If I am going to read between the lines, and as a nervous type I usually do...he is obviously concerned about the mentally fragile Osgood going up against the hot Flames. Apparently he is much more comfortable playing him against the Blues. I get where he is coming from, he needs his team to finally start to come together defensively, and a strong performance from ConkBlock on Thursday will go a long way. But will this further damage Osgood's confidence....who knows, just my paranoid thought. If this were not mid March, I would not even pay attention to the rotation, but it is...

Lebda's back in and Chelios is out. Obviously I agree with that. I like Lebda and Ericsson together. In theory anyway. Ericsson played very well positionally last night and was able to shake off his performance against Columbus last Saturday, a good sign. Plus with Lebda's speed and the fact that they can both jump into the play, they could work well together. Although I am sure the defensive pairings will be shuffled throughout the game again.

Looks like they are still easing Homer back into the line up. Which I get, I do. We don't want an injured Homer again, and the minutes he would be playing with Datsyuk and Zetterberg would be considerable. But I still think putting a player with Homer's specific talent on a line with Samuelsson and Kopecky is a waste....Hopefully he will be in tip top shape soon!

The best news from today is of course the impending return of one Marian Hossa! Yes folks, he is hoping to be back for Saturday's game against the blues. Which strangely enough is where is injury occurred. When I heard he would be back I did a little dance for my fellow coworkers, and it looked something like this! Please don't be intimidated by my mad skills!