Captain Henrik Zetterberg referred to it as desperation.
Coach Jeff Blashill insisted he preferred to refer to it as urgency.
Whatever you call it, as they prepped for Monday’s game at Joe Louis Arena against the Buffalo Sabres, the Detroit Red Wings need to find it and fast, otherwise their streak of consecutive appearances in the Stanley Cup playoffs will soon end at 24.
Asked what message he’s been delivering to his team, here’s what Zetterberg’s response was:
“Maybe try to get them a little bit more desperate,… Zetterberg said. “We’ve had some iffy starts here. I’m just trying to get everyone going a little earlier. That’s the message that we have.
“We don’t want to fall behind. If we get the first goal or we play good in the first period, we have a better chance.…
Blashill agreed with his captain to a point, but chose to make a different word his point of emphasis.
“I think our focus from day one has been to play with a high level of urgency,… Blashill said. “I like the word urgency better than desperate. A high level of urgency, we've wanted to do that all season long. So from my approach it's been very much the same.
“Obviously, you get to the end of the year and you realize what's at stake, but those same things are at stake in game one. So we’ve got to play with a high level of urgency.
“I thought we came out in the first and did a great job of that (in Saturday’s 7-2 loss to Pittsburgh. “We got deflated once we got scored on. We’ve got to make sure we plugging away for 60 minutes.…
That, Zetterberg indicated, has been another point of emphasis that he’s made to his teammates.
“Yeah, especially when you get scored on,… Zetterberg said. “You’re going to get scored on in a game. How we respond to that, it’s real important. We’ve just got to keep going, not play on our heels.
“Most of the times when we’ve been scored on we’ve been playing pretty good. And we change the way we play. That can’t happen. We’ve got to move on and keep playing the way we’ve been doing.…
Granato Update Blashill made it a point to address speculation that Detroit assistant coach Tony Granato was about to be named the head coach of the NCAA Wisconsin Badgers.
“Obviously with reports coming out yesterday, I just wanted to touch on something regarding Tony Granato,… Blashill said. “We're very aware of the fact that Tony and Wisconsin have been talking. There's nothing official at this point.
“Until something becomes official, we'll have no comment on it as our focus and Tony's focus and everybody's in this room's focus is to win a hockey game tonight, with the one exception of making sure everybody understands that Tony's committed to being a Red Wings assistant coach throughout the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs as long as we play.…
Howard Gets The Nod Jimmy Howard will start in goal Monday ahead of the struggling Petr Mrazek, who has been pulled from three of his last eight starts, and the fact that Howard owns the better numbers of late played a role in Blashill’s decision.
“Every game we try to go with the group that we think gives us the best chance to win that night and we decided that tonight we’re going to go with Jimmy,… Blashill said.
Howard indicated he would draw on his past experience in these sorts of do or die games.
“I’ve just been in the situation before and the fact that you’ve come out on top gives you confidence that you can do it again,… Howard said.
Blashill indicated any other lineup changes wouldn’t be determined until after the pre-game warm up.
Howe About That? Talk about pulling out all the motivational stops – among those in attendance at Monday’s game will be Red Wings legend Gordie Howe.
“We’re pretty lucky around here,… Blashill said. “Ted Lindsay was in here last week. To have Gordie Howe come in here means a ton. This organization has unreal history and he’s as big a piece of that as anybody. So to have him here tonight will be a great thing.
“I think it’s great for the Howe family that he’s able to come here and he’s really doing a good job, health-wise.…
Howe, who will turn 88 on Thursday, is battling the effects of dementia and is currently living with his youngest son Murray in the Toledo, Ohio suburbs.
Datsyuk For Masterton Amidst some speculation he might return to play in Russia next season, veteran Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk, 37, is the team’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which goes to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
“I think Pavel's just a great ambassador for our team, for the sport of hockey,… said teammate Justin Abdelkader, who suits up next to Datsyuk in the Detroit dressing room. “He does things right.
“He's professional on and off the ice and he's a great guy for us to have in this locker room.…
Datsyuk, a four-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy, has battled through numerous injuries the past few seasons and continued to play the game at a high level. He currently leads the team in scoring with 45 points despite having played in just 59 of 75 games this season.
Steve Yzerman (2003) and Brad Park (1984) are the only Red Wings to have won the Masterton.
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