Gustav Nyquist finds all this attention about his goal scoring to be somewhat humorous, because frankly, the Detroit Red Wings right-winger doesn’t view himself as a sniper.

“From my own experience, I’ve never really been a goal scorer,” said Nyquist, who leads the Wings with 10 goals in 21 games. “I’ve always had more assists.”

In fact, until he arrived for good in Detroit about a year ago, Nyquist was viewed by hockey people – and himself for that matter – as a point producer first.

“Yeah I guess so,” Nyquist said.

So why so many goals – 38 of them in his last 78 NHL games?

Nyquist’s explanation is hardly rocket science.

“It’s been going in,” he said. “I’ve been getting some good opportunities to play with great players in a lot of good situations, a lot of power-play time, so that helps.

“It’s nice to see the puck go in.”

Even his coach is dumbfounded by the development.

“I don’t know the answer to that question,” Wings coach Mike Babcock admitted. “He’s scored everywhere he’s been, but he’s scored points, not goals. He’s got a good shot, he’s got elite hockey sense and obviously he’s got some confidence.”

As he becomes known as a big shooter in NHL circles, Nyquist admitted he doesn’t mind the attention.

“It’s been fun scoring some goals,” Nyquist said. “That gives you more confidence. I’ve been playing with some great players and getting great opportunities, so I think that’s the biggest reason it’s going in.

“I get some great help and support. It doesn’t matter who scores. I couldn’t care less who scores in this locker-room as long as we win.”

Powering Up
Detroit’s power play, moribund to start the season, has ignited of late. The Wings have netted two or more power-play goals in six games this season and five of their last nine games, including Monday’s 4-3 win over Ottawa.

As with Nyquist, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of complicated equations required to unearth the solution to their success. The Wings are taking their best shot – and their second-best shots.

They just keep on firing and the pucks are going in.

“We shoot the puck and we get it back,” Babcock explained. “If you win faceoffs, if you execute on the breakout, you shoot the puck, you get it back, your skill comes out.

“If you don’t outwork the penalty kill your skill has no chance.”

Smith Update
Defenseman Brendan Smith, who suffered an infected left hand after punching Columbus forward Nick Foligno in the teeth during a fight last week, skated Tuesday for the first time since he was hurt.

“I hit Foligno in the mouth and apparently there's a lot of bacteria in the mouth, so I ended up getting infected that way,” Smith said. “It was just a fluke incident like that. Sometimes it can get cut open. A lot of times nothing will happen but it was just unlucky that time.

“I had to get surgery on my hand, first of all, to clean it out, and it's been good since that.”

Smith admitted he was a little bit scared the morning after the game, when his hand had swollen significantly.

“It kind of woke me and up and it was swollen and stuff, throbbing a little bit,” Smith said. “I was going to fly out to Winnipeg (for the next game) but then obviously the doc said he thought it was infected and we had to do something about it, get some antibiotics and stuff.”

He’s expected to be out 10 days to allow the infection time to clear completely from his system.

Datsyuk Uncertain
He’s improving every day, but whether his ailing groin has healed enough for him to play remains an uncertainty to Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk.

“I feel good,” Datsyuk said.

Good enough to go in Wednesday’s game at Joe Louis Arena against the Philadelphia Flyers?

“We’ll see tomorrow morning,” said Datsyuk, who has missed the last four games. “I’m happy to skate full practice with team.”

The good news from Datsyuk’s standpoint is that as he’s ramped up his pace in workouts, there’s been no discomfort in the groin that’s already sidelined him on three separate occasions this season.

“No it’s fine,” Datsyuk said. “Everything is fine so far.”

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