Every sports team, at every level, has a list of goals they set for themselves throughout a season. For a team like the Blackhawks, they probably have, shockingly, more than “One Goal,” but rather a list of goals that start with simple, broad goals like having a winning record each month, improving their power play scoring, winning faceoffs, and playing strong defense. As the calendar moves along, though, there begin to come specific goals. Professional athletes generally won’t say they focus on one team or week on the calendar, but any Blackhawks player has had this week circled since July.

Twice, in one week before Christmas, the Blackhawks get to play the hated Detroit Red Wings for the first time since early October. Sunday will be the first time the Wings come to Chicago this year.

For decades, the Blackhawks have watched as the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. Painfully, Chicago fans watched as Chris Chelios raised the Cup over his head in the hated Detroit sweater. These are two Original Six franchises, the only two in the Western Conference, who have hated each other for as long the franchises have existed. Indeed, seconds after the National Anthem ends on Sunday night, you’ll know exactly how Blackhawks fans feel about the visiting Wings.

In the 2008-09 season, for the first time in 15 years, the Blackhawks got close to challenging the Red Wings’ stranglehold on the Central Division. The up and coming Blackhawks, in the first playoff appearance for most of the players on the youngest roster in the NHL, streaked all the way to the Western Conference Finals as the fourth seed, knocking off heavyweights from Calgary and Vancouver along the way.

But in the Conference Finals, it was Detroit. Big Brother was waiting, and the youth of the Hawks finally failed as the deep, experienced Red Wings eliminated Chicago.

In July, however, Detroit found themselves in a strange position. Their leading goal scorer, Marian Hossa, left for greener pastures… in Chicago. So did Tomas Kopecky. Goalie Ty Conklin left for St. Louis, and Jiri Hudler made the biggest move, heading to Russia for the year. Detroit wasn’t as deep any more.

Meanwhile, the Little Brother in Chicago added Hossa, Kopecky and veteran center John Madden to an already-stacked offense. Could the balance of power in the Central Division be headed south and west a few hours?

Back on Oct. 8, the Hawks lost in Detroit 3-2 in the first of a string of poor performances from Cristobal Huet. With Hossa in street clothes after summer shoulder surgery, the veteran Red Wings dominated the Hawks in a game that looked too familiar for comfort.

Which is why, on Sunday, the red hot Blackhawks host the Red Wings in a game that is absolutely a must win.

Detroit is a tough team to break down because they keep winning games despite their inability to stay healthy. They will be without a list of players that sounds more like a Western Conference All Star lineup than an injury report: Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Valterri Filppula, Dan Cleary, Jason Williams, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Andreas Lilja will all be in street clothes.

And yet the Wings had won four in a row before losing to Dallas on Saturday night. In that game, the Wings got some help back from the IR, as Darren Helm returned from a wrist injury to play 19 minutes.

The Blackhawks come into Sunday night’s game in first place, at the top of the Western Conference, with a Huet playing exceptionally well in the net and an offense starting to click with a healthy Hossa scoring as regularly as his salary would indicate he should. They’re 6-2-0 in December, and have only allowed more than two goals in three of the eight games.

What makes Sunday a must win for the Blackhawks is simple: just like Michael Jordan’s Bulls needed to step on Isaiah Thomas’ Pistons and make a statement, so now the Blackhawks of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Hossa must take the next step in their maturation with an emphatic victory.

Yes, the Red Wings are the most injury-plagued roster in the NHL. But that’s precisely why the Hawks must handle their business. Allowing a team without nine of their top players to sneak out of the United Center with a victory would do as much to perpetuate Detroit’s stamp on the division as it would keep the the Big Brother-Little Brother mentality in the two locker rooms.

The Blackhawks must take care of Detroit at home on Sunday.

With just under two minutes left in the first period on Thursday night, Detroit star forward and leading scorer Henrik Zetterberg needed help to leave the ice. After a hard, but legal, hit from Mattias Ohlund, Zetterberg was taken to the dressing room with what’s being called an “upper body injury” (of course). TSN is reporting that the initial prognosis isn’t good, however.

For a video of the hit, click here.

The Red Wings are also skating without injured forwards Johan Franzen, Valterri Filppula, Jason Williams and Dan Cleary. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson was hurt on Monday night, joining Niklas Kronwall on the sidelines from Detroit’s defensive group.

As the injury to Zetterberg, and his timetable for return, are made more clear, we’ll update the story.

UPDATE: Reports on Friday morning are that Zetterberg will miss at least two weeks with a “slight left shoulder separation.” In the next two weeks, the Red Wings have a crucial stretch of games where they play two home-and-home series with Chicago and Columbus.

According to reports out of Detroit, Red Wings’ coach Mike Babcock has confirmed that forward Dan Cleary will be out for a month with a separated shoulder. Cleary was injured Wednesday night in Detroit’s loss to St. Louis.

Cleary joins Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Jason Williams and Niklas Kronwall on Detroit’s injury report.

Only Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datysuk have more points so far this season than Cleary, who had 16 before getting hurt.

Detroit is currently 14-11-5 (33 pts), putting them eight points behind the Blackhawks in the Central Division and in fourth place in the five-team division.

Niklas Kronwall sprained an MCL when he took a cheap shot from Montreal’s Georges Laroque on November 21 and is expected to be out until late December.

Jason Williams broke a fibula in early November and is expected to miss eight weeks. He is scheduled to return in early January.

Valterri Filppula broke his right wrist at the end of October expected to keep him out six to eight weeks. His cast was removed on Tuesday and he skated with the team that day. He is still scheduled to return by mid- to late-December.

Johan Franzen had surgery to repair torn ACL on October 16, beginning a six month recovery. The best-case scenario for Franzen is a return after the Olympics, but late-March might be more likely.

Detroit C Valterri Filppula broke his wrist and will miss 6-8 weeks.

Various media outlets are reporting early Friday morning that the Detroit Red Wings have lost center Valterri Filppula for between six and eight weeks.

Filppula broke his right wrist in Thursday night’s shootout loss at Edmonton. He had five points (two goals, three assists) and was averaging 18:24 in ice time in ten games before the injury. Filppula was third among Detroit centers in average ice time, behind only Pavel Datysuk and Johan Franzen.

Franzen, however, is out for the next four months with a torn ACL.

Detroit is now down two of their top centers, and were already dealing with summer losses of Marian Hossa and Jiri Hudler. The Red Wings loss to the Oilers on Thursday drops their season record to 4-4-3 (11 points), which ties them with Nashville and St. Louis for last place in the Central Division.

Yes, there are only five teams in the Central, and three are tied for last with 11 points (four behind the first place Blackhawks), but there’s just something about saying it that sounds so good.

The Detroit Red Wings are tied for last place in the division.