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Going (to) West(ern Canada) Works Wonders |
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As they prepare to complete a four-game Canadian road trip Thursday in Calgary against the Flames, there’s good news for the Detroit Red Wings. Since moving to the Eastern Conference in 2013, the Wings have never visited Calgary without taking a piece of the game pie home with them.
The Wings are 2-0-2 in Calgary since 2013, gaining six of a possible eight points in visits to the Alberta city. But it’s just one-quarter of a positive outcome scenario for the Eastern Wings when they fly to Western Canada.
Monday’s 3-2 win over the Canucks improved the Wings to 4-1-0 at Vancouver over the time frame. Detroit is also 3-2-0 at Edmonton during the past five seasons, and will head to Winnipeg later this season on March 2 looking to increase their only .500 mark West of the Ontario border. Detroit is 2-2-0 at Winnipeg.
Overall, that adds up to an 11-5-2 slate, 24 of a possible 36 points and a .667 winning percentage.
“On the road if you go .500, you’re doing pretty good,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “You can’t expect to go .750.”
Most significant though to the Wings isn’t where they are playing as much as it is how they are playing. They are now 4-1-0 in their last five contests, and their games at Edmonton and Vancouver were two of their most complete performances of the season, playing solid, reliable hockey in all three zones of the ice.
“I think over the last four games we’ve paid a lot better attention to detail,” Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. “We may not have gotten the right result that we wanted in Ottawa (3-1 loss) but the detail’s been there.
“For the most part, we were playing our gameplan right to a T. I think we’re doing a good job here on the road of keeping it simple.
“When we’re getting our opportunities, for the most part we’re burying them.”
By playing a smart, simple game, the Wings are eliminating the high-octane errors that generally spell doom for them.
“We still could play better but we’re finding some kind of way to play a little simpler,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “We’re not making mistakes. We’re putting pucks behind the defense.”
Playing By The Rules
It also helps to build continued success when you aren’t handing outnumbered scenarios to the opposition, and recently the Wings are doing a much better job of playing the game within the framework of the rules.
“I guess it’s probably a combination,” Blashill said. “I think each group of referees calls it different. I also think the we made a real concerted effort that we had to eliminate the penalties.
Detroit has played shorthanded just twice in each of its last four games and have successfully killed off seven of the eight shorthanded situations.
“I looked after the Tampa game - and I know we weren’t great in Florida - but I looked after the Tampa game, how can we be a better hockey team?” Blashill assessed. “One easy area is to take less penalties. It’s something that we’ve talked about as a coaching staff and they’ve talked about as individuals, making sure we’re better at that.”
The rash of slashing minors assessed to the Wings has also slowed. The Wings have not taking a slashing penalty the past four games, although Blashill doesn’t think this change in philosophy required any sort of deep teaching.
“Slashes are easy,” he said. “Don’t slash. Don’t put your stick on the their stick around the hands. And then make sure we’re not hooking, we’re not holding, we’re not taking any unnecessary penalties.”
Wilson Ailing
Forward Scott Wilson is an uncertain starter for Thursday’s game due to a lower-body ailment.
“He’s just got a little tweak,” Blashill said. “I would say he’s questionable for tomorrow. It’s a day to day thing but questionable for tomorrow.”
Blashill likes what he’s seen from Wilson since he arrived in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins for center Riley Sheahan.
“He’s done a good job, and as he’s gotten more ice time he’s just another good, reliable player that can play on different lines,” Blashill said. “He can forecheck and give you net presence, has skill to make plays. Just another good player that I think helps our lineup.”
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