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For the Detroit Red Wings, their last two games have represented a 180-degree turnaround from their first two games, when they lost a pair of lopsided decisions on the road in Florida.
Playing on successive nights at Joe Louis Arena, the Wings felt they produced their best game of the season Friday in a 5-3 win over the Nashville Predators. Then they trumped that effort Saturday, blanking the reigning Western Conference champion San Jose Sharks 3-0.
“I think we’re playing better in our own end,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “I think we’re faster, we’re quicker. We’re stopping them a little easier. They’re not spending as much time (in our end) as they did the first two games. When we do that we spend more time in their end.
“I think we’ve been doing the stuff we want to do good and when we do that we’re playing well.”
Detroit has won four straight games for the first time since Jan. 2-10 of last season.
Gus Gets Going
Blanked through the first four games of the season, Detroit right-winger Gustav Nyquist has netted three goals in the last two games, including the first two tallies of Saturday’s victory.
“It’s always nice to score goals and it’s nice to see the team play the way we did on a back to back,” Nyquist said. “I thought we came out and skated really hard and seemed to have a lot of energy. That was good to see.”
After scoring 27 goals in 2014-15, Nyquist slumped to 17 last season but with 3-4-7 totals he holds a share of the team scoring lead with Thomas Vanek and Mike Green.
“It’s nice obviously to score goals,” Nyquist said. “Obviously I didn’t do a good enough job of that last year. But it’s early.
“I didn’t score the first few games and now I’ve managed to score a couple so that was obviously nice.”
Howard Hot
Making his second start of the season, Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard posted his second win and the 23rd shutout of his NHL career.
“I feel like it’s coming, the little things we’ve been working on,” Howard said of his game. He’s allowed one goal through the two games he’s played.
“I’m having a bit more patience. Like I said there’s still a couple of things that I’m getting used to, like this reverse V-H (vertical-horizontal). It can be a complete pain when to get into it.
“I’m trying not to overuse anything and just be still and calm.”
AA Delivers
He’s been a healthy scratch. Then he was on the fourth line. Then a healthy scratch again.
A last-minute addition to Saturday’s lineup after left-winger Justin Abdelkader was scratched due to a lower-body injury, Andreas Athanasiou made the most of his chance, pounding a slapshot past Sharks netminder Martin Jones for Detroit’s third goal and his first of the season.
“It’s always a tough situation but I think I’ve handled it well,” Athanasiou said. “I come every day to practice ready to work and whenever I see my name on the gamesheet I’ll be ready and just go from there.”
Catching San Jose on a line change, Athanasiou broke into open ice on the left wing and took a feed from Vanek to get into the clear before hammering a long slapshot top shelf glove side past Jones.
“Your eyes definitely open wide when you see them changing like that and you see all the open ice on the weak side,” Athanasiou said. “I peeled off to the side and Vanek made a great tape-to-tape pass.
“I just put my head down and shot it as hard as I could.”
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