Gearing up for the playoffs.

[FunkedUp 29]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AqTG...n&type=lgns

Allow eight goals in a game once, it’s a fluke. Do it on consecutive Saturdays, and that’s when people start getting nervous.

Twice in the last five games, the reigning Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings have allowed eight goals in losses to Columbus and Nashville. They were outscored by a total of 16-2 in those two games.

“Hopefully, when it happens once, you learn your lesson,” longtime Red Wings forward Kirk Maltby told Sporting News Today. “It happens twice, and you’re not sure what’s going on.”

In between the blowouts, the Red Wings have been winning, so that helps alleviate concern.

But history shows that elite teams are ripe for a first-round playoff upset if they’re struggling heading into the playoffs. Especially, if they’re facing a winning team that has been playing with high intensity just to get into the postseason.

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The veterans in the Red Wings locker room know that all too well.

“That’s one thing that we’ve seen first-hand, that’s ended up in firstround exits and huge disappointments for this organization,” veteran forward Kris Draper told Sporting News Today. “We have to concentrate on everything around this team, in the locker room, how we prepare, how we practice, what we do off the ice—everything to make sure we’re ready for the games as well.”

So yeah, there’s concern in Detroit. But it’s fixable. Here’s how the Red Wings can gear up for the playoffs:

Be ready from the first drop of the puck: Detroit has been able to win this season despite digging early holes in games—simply because its roster is loaded with talent. But with other teams scraping and clawing for every possible point during the stretch run, giving up two goals in the first period isn’t going to cut it. “The Nashville game, we gave them opportunity after opportunity in the first 10 minutes,” Maltby said. “Like any team, if you’re giving them breakaways, two-on-ones, three-onones, they’re going to score some goals.”

Match the intensity: In other cities, there’s daily scoreboard watching and the sweating out of every point in the standings. The New York Rangers lose a game and they drop from fifth place to ninth. The Red Wings lose a game, and, whoa, their lead in the Central Division is down to 13 points. It’s understandable if motivation is hard to come by this time of year for Detroit. “We have a battle going on with San Jose for first (in the West), we have an opportunity to be the best team in the league, but that said, we’re playing against other teams on a regular basis that are literally fighting for their playoff lives,” Draper said. “You have to find a way to wire yourself up and re-energize.”

Get healthy: The team got a boost with the return of Tomas Holmstrom to the lineup Tuesday night against Phoenix. It’s impossible, players in the room will tell you, not to play hard when Holmstrom’s sacrificing his body in front of the opposing goalie. The team also played without leading goal-scorer Marian Hossa (neck) in those two blowout losses. One of the best twoway forwards in the game, Hossa isn’t an easy guy to replace, even if he thinks nobody noticed his absence. “That’s something that is a luxury with a great team like this,” Hossa said. “When you’re missing from the lineup, nobody really cares.” He said his injured neck is loosening and he hopes to be back in the lineup against Calgary on Thursday.

Protect the puck: There was a lot of talk this summer about teams duplicating the Red Wings’ puck-possession style, but sometimes not even the Red Wings are that good at their puck-possession style. Refusing to occasionally dump the puck in leads to turnovers. Or in the case of the Columbus game, a Rick Nash hat trick in which all three of the goals were unassisted. Apparently passes from the Red Wings didn’t count as assists on Nash’s goals. Yes, starting goalie Chris Osgood has struggled this season, but he also isn’t getting much help from his teammates. “The bottom line is we have to be a lot better with the turnovers at their blue line coming out of our zone,” coach Mike Babcock said.

good article...thoughts?

[stormboy 47]

yeah, just read that...thought it was pretty good. i thought the point about them playing teams right now that are seriously battling for their playoff lives is a good one. yes, the wings are professionals, and it's their job to give 100% effort each night, but i loved the bit that was like, Rangers lose one game, they drop from 5th to 9th. Wings lose a game, and their lead in the central is cut down to a mere 15 points. while it's obviously really hard to expect a team in detroit's position to put forth as much effort on a daily basis as most other teams, the big question is whether or not they'll be able to step up to that new level of intensity come playoff time.