It wasn’t so long ago that the best forward line for the Detroit Red Wings was Riley Sheahan between Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist.
Lately, though, they’ve looked a lot like those post-Christmas credit-card bills – frightening.
As the Wings readied to close out 2015 with their traditional New Year’s Eve game at Joe Louis Arena, this year against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nyquist is goalless in four games and has tallied once in his last seven games. Tatar is without a goal in seven games and has netted once in 10 games.
“I thought they went through a stretch of playing great for about a month and a week or whatever and really created tons and tons of chances,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said of that trio. “You could argue night in and night out they were our best line.
“They’ve been a little bit drier here lately but I think that’s the ebb and flow of the season. I’m not necessarily concerned about it but I do think they’ll have to play with a sense of urgency.
“I thought Tats had some big-time chances last game. If you think back to the third period he walked around a couple of guys and went in alone. He had two real good chances in the slot in the second period.
“I think they’re still getting enough chances and the production will follow.…
Ericsson In Jonathan Ericsson (shoulder) will return to the Detroit defense after a five-game absence and will be reunited with Danny DeKeyser in what was working as a successful shutdown pairing prior to Ericsson’s injury.
“It's kind of the roles we got given to us and I think it's worked well so far,… Ericsson said. “Danny's easy to play with. I think we communicate out there very well.
“It's been easy but I'm not going to say that it's going to go easy all year. But I like it so far.…
Z And Pav Together Again The Wings worked with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg on the same power-play unit and pairing them together is the plan going into Thursday’s game.
“That’s what we practiced this morning and that’s the way they scored a goal the other night (at Winnipeg),… Blashill said. “So we’ll most likely start the game that way.
“A little bit depends on when the power plays come. They’re on different lines so if they’re tired and whatnot, but we want to at least be able to go to them when we feel like it’s the right move.…
Goalie Carousel Petr Mrazek will be back in the net for the Wings against Pittsburgh, but even after successive sub-par performances by Jimmy Howard, that was as far as Blashill was willing to go with his goaltending plans.
“I’m going to look at it from the very short term,… Blashill said. “My focus is on tonight’s game against Pittsburgh and (Mrazek is) going to play tonight.…
Roster Updates The Wings returned forward Eric Tangradi to AHL Grand Rapids. Tangradi was with the team for the last two games of the road trip but did not suit up for either game.
Injured defenseman Kyle Quincey (ankle) and Drew Miller (jaw) skated with the team during Thursday’s morning skate and injured forward Teemu Pulkkinen (shoulder) skated on his own after the team left the ice.
Pulkkinen hoped to be back skating with the team by sometime next week.
“We’ll see,… Pulkkinen said. “Probably next week. I can do a couple drills with the team. I can shoot, I can skate, it’s no issue there but the only thing is no contact.
“We’ll have to figure out when is a good time to go with the team.…
The hard-shooting winger figures he’s approximately two weeks from being ready to resume game action, but knows that the decision is not up to him.
“Something like that, maybe a couple weeks,… Pulkkinen said. “It’s hard to say.
“I feel better every day. It’s not me who’s deciding, the doctors have to decide, the guys who know more about the shoulder. I just work hard and they’re going to tell me when I can play.…
For a young player who was just making his mark as an NHLer, the last place Pulkkinen wanted to be was on the injured list.
“It’s hard, of course you want to play, but it’s hockey, it happens to every guy,… Pulkkinen said. “You have to do the rehab, work hard and be ready when they let you play.…
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