Their bags are packed. They’re ready to go.
Now we get to find out whether the Detroit Red Wings are for real.
Beginning Saturday in Ottawa, where they will face the Senators at Scotiabank Place, the Wings will play 19 of their next 26 games away from the friendly confines of Joe Louis Arena.
“We’re going to be packing the bags for January,… Detroit defenseman Kyle Quincey said. “We talked about that. We’re going to be putting the boots on and going to work.
“We’re going to go on the road for probably close to 30 days.…
Their journeys will include a six-game trip to launch January and another six-game trek to close out February. Detroit will make trips to face such difficult opponents as Boston, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, San Jose and Nashville.
“If you look at our January and February, there’s a lot of road games, a lot of places where it’s tough to play,… Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard said.
Wings coach Mike Babcock prefers to downsize the task at hand and take a one-game-at-a-time approach.
“We play in Ottawa (tonight),… Babcock said. “That’s all that really matters.
“I know long picture-wise, we have a lot of road games. Let’s just win the game we’re playing. Let’s get ready to play in Ottawa and keep going.…
After a stretch of 10 home games in December, Babcock felt it might be good for all involved if the team took off for a while.
“The other thing about it is these poor wives have had these guys around here for a month,… Babcock said. “My wife’s had my bags packed and in the garage just hoping for Christmas to get over and get me out of town.
“Let’s get on the road and let’s get playing.…
Others agreed with their coach that getting on the road together could prove a positive for the Wings.
“It’s going to be fun,… Detroit forward Stephen Weiss said. “I think it’s always fun to go on the road. Obviously we love playing at home in front of our fans but sometimes when you’re on the road for a long time you can just concentrate on hockey.
“There’s not many distractions and you’ve just got to worry about playing hockey and getting two points every night. But it will be tough. We’re playing a lot of tough teams.…
Some also felt the time together away from home will enable the team to develop an inner chemistry that will make them a formidable foe come playoff time.
“I think the road games are huge for team bonding as well,… Detroit forward Tomas Tatar said. “We have lots of activities on the road where we go together to restaurants and movies. “I feel that this bonds a team a lot, too. It’s good that we can go do activities like this.…
Changing Up After a two-game absence due to a groin strain, Howard will return to the Detroit lineup Saturday and gets the start. Goaltender Tom McCollum was returned to AHL Grand Rapids to allow Howard to be activated from the injured list.
Weiss, who left Detroit’s last game against Buffalo with wooziness after absorbing a high hit, is also ready to answer the bell. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who also departed after taking a shot to the head in the Buffalo game, is expected to play but will be a game-time decision.
Forward lines in the morning skate looked like this:
Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Justin Abdelkader
Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Weiss
Johan Franzen-Darren Helm-Gustav Nyquist
Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Tomas Jurco
Defense pairings were:
Jonathan Ericsson-Kronwall
Quincey-Danny DeKeyser
Brendan Smith-Jakub Kindl
Scratches will be Brian Lashoff, Daniel Cleary, Joakim Andersson and the injured Jonas Gustavsson (shoulder).
Backman Back Home The Wings made it official Saturday, reporting what was already known last week, that rookie defenseman Mattias Backman had returned to his native Sweden.
Things weren’t going well for Backman during his first season in North America. Backman, 22, collected four assists and four penalty minutes in 18 games with Grand Rapids. He was reassigned to Linkopings HC of the Swedish Hockey League.
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