As they prepare to become the road warriors of the National Hockey League, the Detroit Red Wings are doing so in a positive frame of mind.
Starting with Saturday’s game at Vancouver, the Wings will play 17 of their next 23 away from the friendly confines of Joe Louis Arena, but they are looking forward to the challenge that this task will offer them.
“We know we’re away a lot in January,… right-winger Gustav Nyquist said. “It’s a lot of travel, you’re away from home a lot, but at the same time we had a nice schedule here in December (with 10 home games). We were home a lot, feeling good, and playing well at home.…
The Wings are a solid 13-4-6 at home this season, but just a middling 7-5-3 on the road and that was a concern as they unpacked their bags on the West Coast.
“We’ve been doing the job most of the times at home and not so well on the road,… Nyquist said. “I mean, we’ve got to be good on the road as well. We’ve got to find a way there.
“We’ll just take one game at a time, but obviously we want to be better than we have been away. It’s going to be a big month for us.…
Currently fifth overall in the NHL’s Eastern Conference but just three points out of top spot, the Wings understand that these next two months will go a long way toward proving that they are legitimate contenders.
“We have a tough stretch with a lot of road games and we have to be better if we want to be in the race,… captain Henrik Zetterberg said.
“I think it's more of a challenge for us. I think we've been playing OK at home, but we haven't gotten all the points that we hoped that we could get. We're looking forward to going on the road and having a good stretch of road games and playing some good road games.
“I don't think that there's any panic in here. I think we know what we can do. We know we are a good team when we do the right stuff. We’ve just got to do it.…
How The West Was Won The Wings will open 2015 with a six-game road swing and will also close out February with another six-game road trip, their first treks of that length since since the 2008-09 season. They played six in a row on the road from Jan. 12-27, 2009, going 2-2-2.
Zetterberg felt a long sojourn away from home might just serve the team well.
“I wouldn’t say it’s going to be nice to be on the road, but we don’t see these trips any more that often,… Zetterberg said. “Now when we go on the road mostly, it’s in and out.
“We’re going to get a long trip here and it’s going to be good for our group to get together and spend some time together.…
Detroit coach Mike Babcock was also of the opinion that this stretch could prove to be a valuable tool in terms of developing chemistry toward team bonding purposes.
“We're going on a good road trip now and we need a good road trip,… Babcock said. “That's good for our team, for the development of our team.
“I like the direction our team's going. I think we’ve got a good team, I think we're better than we've played of late.
“So now we’ve got to show it. No sense thinking about it or talking about it, we’ve got to do it.…
There might be no better place for them to start than in Western Canada, when the Wings have been dominant of late. They’ve produced winning records on their last three swings of three games through British Columbia and Alberta, including a perfect 3-0 mark last season. Overall, the Wings are 10-4-2 in their past 16 games in Vancouver, 11-8-0 in their past 19 games in Calgary and 8-0-5 in their past 13 games in Edmonton.
“It’s tough but sometimes that’s good for a team, to get away and just be together,… center Luke Glendening said of their road success out west. “You’ve got to play good road hockey to win games.
“I think sometimes that’s OK.…
Gus The Goal Scoring Wing As 2014 came to a close, so did an impressive run of red lights for Nyquist.
He finished with 38 goals during the calendar year. Among NHL players, only San Jose’s Joe Pavelski (44), Rick Nash (42) of the New York Rangers and Tyler Seguin (42) of the Dallas Stars scored more often.
“Tenacity every day is what I want to see out of him and keep shooting the puck,… Babcock said of Nyquist. “I think Nike has elite hockey sense. He’s an everyday guy. He comes to play every day. He’s not large in stature but he can be real heavy on the puck.
“He’s tenacious on it and he knows where it’s going. That helps him. Obviously, you can never have enough scoring in the National Hockey League. If you can have everyone on the team have the ability to score, you’re better off. You need to score goals to win. You want to be real good defensively, but you still have to score and he has the ability to do that.…
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