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Red Wings News & Notes: It's Osgood again Wednesday, May 07, 2008 The last time the Dallas Stars and Detroit Red Wings met in Western Conference Finals, Chris Osgood was in net for the Red Wings. It's Osgood again, but he's gone through a lot of ups and downs on his way back to being in the spotlight in Detroit. There were ups and downs in that 1998 series against the Stars. He let in a long range goal by Jamie Langenbrunner 46 seconds into overtime in Game 5 of that series. He bounced back with a shutout in a Game 6 win that gave the Red Wings the series win and a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, where they beat the Washington Capitals. Three years later he was waived by the Red Wings, who were turning to Dominik Hasek in goal. Osgood end up with the New York Islanders. In 2003 the Isles traded him to St. Louis. In 2005 he returned to the Red Wings as a free agent. And, according to his coach, the resilient Osgood worked to improve himself. "I think the biggest thing, and I talked about this a number of times is he reinvented himself," said coach Mike Babcock. "He went back one summer after his first year back here and learned how to butterfly. As simple as that seems, he would always say to me, 'The 15-year-old kids butterfly better than I do.' Well, you can't play in the league today without that ability. So he fixed his game and reinvented himself." Now, the 35-year-old netminder is coming off a stellar season that saw him split time with Hasek, the guy that once replaced him. Osgood posted a 27-9-4 record, a 2.09 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. He earned a spot at the NHL All-Star Game in Atlanta. When Hasek, who got the nod to start in the playoffs, stumbled in the first round series against Nashville, Osgood replaced him with the series tied 2-2 and won the next two games as the Red Wings finished off the Predators. He and the Red Wings won four straight over the Colorado Avalanche. The bottom line is Osgood is 6-0 in the playoffs with a league-best 1.52 goals against average and an impressive .937 save percentage. "The team's playing really well. I don't feel like I need to go in there and steal games," said Osgood. "I just have to play solid and play sharp, and make the saves when I have to. I feel like I'm capable of doing that." Filppula back on the ice After missing the last two days of practice with a leg injury, Wings center Valtteri Filppula was back on the ice Wednesday. He's questionable for Thursday. We're going to find out tomorrow," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "This is the first time he's skated [since injuring the leg on Thursday] and he responded really well. We didn't push it, so we'll see tomorrow." Red Wings line combinations and defensive pairings With Valtteri Filppula back in the mix for practice, here are the line combinations the Red Wings rolled out for Wednesday's practice. Coach Mike Babcock also adjusted his defensive pairings for the practice, splitting up the top pairing of Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski. There is a number of ways to look at it -- we've got two real physical guys on the back end that hunt down players and we like players that we're playing against to be a little bit nervous," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. " So, everyone thinks that the 'D' man going back for the puck is the guy that gets the run. Well, there's nothing wrong with the 'D' man running the guy coming to get him either. So we're just making sure we've got everything covered."
Quotable "He's out there hunting you down. He's looking for you. He's going to get somebody in this series, I guarantee it." Red Wings coach Mike Babcock on Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall
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