Now that the NHL All-Star break is over, the Detroit Red Wings opened the 2nd half of the season with a 3-1 victory on the road against the Calgary Flames. Every win for the Red Wings from here on out is critical. They now have 69 points on the year and that is good enough for the most points in the NHL. As for their upcoming schedule, the Wings have three games left on their road trip. They play the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. The Canucks have 66 points so this should be a pretty competitive battle between to division leaders. However, the Red Wings belong to arguably the most competitive division in all the NHL. Four of the Five teams in it are with in four points of the Red Wings. I think that the Red Wings will win against the Canucks in what is one of the biggest and important games all year.

After tomorrow night, the Wings travel to Edmonton to play the Oilers on Saturday. Game time is clocked for 10:00 p.m. eastern time The Oilers have 19 wins on the season but can give good teams some trouble with good young talent. The Red Wings have won both meetings so far this season, by scores of 3-0 at home and 3-2 at Edmonton. With that said, I believe the Red Wings will win this game as well, improving on their road record.

The final game of the road trip is the one that people have to worry about. The Wings will take on the Phoenix Coyotes. The game will take place on Monday Feb. 6th at 8:00 p.m. It will be a tough game and the Wings will have to bring all their energy to the arena. There is no doubt they will be tired from the travel across Canada but I feel the Wings will pull this one out in a close game as well, completing a undefeated road trip.

This road trip is a key time of the season for the Wings and they could really separate themselves from the rest of the league if they keep playing how they are. Because after this they have a six-game home-stand and we all know what they do at home. Most of the team is healthy and things are starting to look and shape up to be a good end of the year for Hockeytown.