Red Wings News & Notes: Time to shuffle things around?

Sunday, May 18, 2008

With two straight losses in the Western Conference Final, Detroit coach Mike Babcock is suggesting he could shuffle things around as far as lineup for Monday's Game 6 in Dallas.

"You always got to try to make adjustments to win. And I think that's really important. You know, same old, same old probably gives you the same result," Babcock said. "You know, the good thing about it is we don't have to make any real decisions till tomorrow. So that gives me some more time, decide what we're going to do."

Babcock hasn't shuffled since forward Johan Franzen went out in the second game of the series. Since then the Red Wings' second line of Dan Cleary, Valtteri Filppula and Mikael Samuelsson has struggled. But Babcock wasn't putting everything on the second line.

"Well, we'd like them to score more," he said. "But I think if I'm not mistaken, the only guy who got a goal was our fourth-line left winger last night. So we need more from everyone. And that's just the way it is."

The Red Wings have scored have scored just two goals in the last two games - one at even strength in Game 4 and one of the power play in Game 5. Babcock has put some of the blame on missed opportunities.

"We had guys home free, clear-cut opportunities that didn't hit the net," Babcock said. "That's being too fine. Pound it off the goalie and shoot the rebound in the net."

Still, secondary scoring has become a big issue for the Red Wings, who look like a one-line team at times with the duo of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg creating a lot of chances and having a hand in a majority of the team's goals in the series.

"This game can't be won with just Pavel and Hank. Everybody has to realize that," said forward Kris Draper. "We need everybody going. We need some other guys to step up. Put pressure on myself to score, Kirk Maltby to score, Danny Cleary and, [Valtteri] Filppula. I mean, guys like that have to step up and be able to take a little bit of pressure off of Pavel and Hank."

The Stars won Game 5 with goals from defenseman Trevor Daley and forward Joel Lundqvist. Babcock said the Wings need that same kind of thing from his team.

"I think to be successful everyone's got to pick it up. You know, I think when we won the first three games of the series, we talked about [fourth line center Darren] Helm's goal," said Babcock. "When they won the next two, you can talk about Petersen the one night, Lundqvist scored a goal, Daley scored a goal last night. That's how the playoffs are when there's not much to pick between teams."

Wings say they are not feeling pressure, confident playing on road

Although the Stars are still the team facing elimination, it would seem there is some pressure building on the Red Wings, who have lost two straight games and are one loss away from being forced to a seventh game. So, are the Red Wings starting to feel the pressure?

"I don't think so," forward Kirk Maltby said. "We have enough leadership in here. Last year we made a good run. I think any of the young guys, even the old guys for that matter, got a good taste of a good run again. I think we learned from our mistakes then. So, no, I don't think we're feeling the pressure. I think, if anything, it's an opportunity to thrive on the situation."

And the Red Wings feel confident in their chances to finish the series on the road.

"The one thing that we just talked about is, you know, the first series, we closed out Nashville in Nashville, the last series we closed out Colorado in Colorado," said forward Kris Draper. "So we've been able to find ways to win on the road. That's something that we're going to need to do tomorrow."

Although the Red Wings have dropped the last two games, Draper said the Red Wings are still in control of the series.

"We're still up 3-2. That's something we've just got to keep hammering home. It's all about finding a way to win one game, one road game," said Draper. "Like I said, we've done this before in these situations. We just have to draw on that and just come out and be a very confident team. Like I said, we had some great chances yesterday. They didn't go in for us. If we continue to play the way we've been playing, they're going to go in."

Franzen better, but still not ready to go

Forward Johan Franzen, who hasn't played since Game 1 of the series due to concussion-like symptoms, is said to be feeling better and is free of headaches, but is not expected to play in Game 6.

"He's getting better," coach Mike Babcock said. "He hasn't been cleared to play."

Franzen is going through light workouts.

Quotable

"As a professional athlete, this is where you want to be. This is the situation you want to be in. Like I said, we've been in them before."

Wings forward Kris Draper



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