There’s nothing like home cooking to help a person feel good about themselves and in the case of the Detroit Red Wings, how they do at home over the next stretch may go a long way in determining whether they will be a playoff team this season.
Starting with Wednesday’s game against the Boston Bruins, the Wings play 11 of their next 13 games in the confines of Joe Louis Arena, which haven’t been friendly so far this season, Detroit posting a 5-5-1 home record.
“I think we had a stretch where we just weren’t playing good and doing things the way we should be and a lot of those games were at home and we lost some of those,… left-winger Justin Abdelkader explained. “Sometimes when you go on the road you have to play a simpler game, especially the first 10 minutes are most important.
“Maybe we can carry that over to our home ice, play a little simpler and not give teams the quality chances we have in the past, whether it’s breakaways or odd-man rushes.…
While they are happy to basically be home for the holidays, the Wings know it’s essential they don’t perform like they are on holiday.
“We’ll kind of be in the area for a long time,… forward Brad Richards said. “I think there’s two road games before Christmas. It’s exciting. We should be very excited for this opportunity.
“It doesn’t mean because you’re playing here we win. We need a lot of focus on Wednesday and we’ll start there.…
DK And Big E Since he shook up his defensive pairings, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill likes the look of how Danny DeKeyser and Jonathan Ericsson have worked in tandem.
“I think they’re a pretty good pair together,… Blashill said. “I think Johnnie has played very well in that role with (DeKeyser) as well. They’re both real, real big, long guys who skate really well, so when they’re gapped up and they’re skating well they’re a hard group to play against, and they can play against anybody.
“They can play against fast players, they can play against big, strong guys, so I think it’s a real good max-up pair.…
DeKeyser has the longest relationship of any Wing with Blashill, playing for him in college at Western Michigan and with AHL Grand Rapids before Detroit.
“I thought he did an exceptional job of breaking the puck out of our zone,… Blashill said of DeKeyser’s performance in St. Louis in Detroit’s last game. “I think there were three or four times where he wheeled the net with the puck, shook a forechecker off, made a pass. That is what really has separated himself. When he does that he’s an elite defenseman in the league.
“He’s always, I think, consistent as a pretty good defender. I think he always has good gaps; he’s got a good defensive stick. The thing that I saw from the time that he was at Western to the time in the National Hockey League is his ability to skate the puck out of the zone and then make outlet passes is exceptional at times.
“I thought it was the best he’s been all year on Saturday.…
Staying The Course The Wings will go with the same lineup that beat St. Louis on Saturday with one exception – Petr Mrazek gets the start in goal instead of Jimmy Howard, meaning Mrazek will have started 13 of Detroit’s 23 games.
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