Desperate times call for desperate measures, Blackhawks may join Kane and Toews with Sharp

CHICAGO – Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And that’s just what the Chicago Blackhawks are at in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with the Detroit Red Wings.

From the looks of things, Chicago will load up its top line by reuniting Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, skating alongside Patrick Sharp.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville wouldn’t confirm if that indeed what was happening, but Kane talked as if it was.

“It’s exciting (playing with Toews),” Kane said. “We played a couple of years ago together a lot and we were hot, scoring a lot of goals. You want to think about scoring chances and creating things.

“Everyone is frustrated a little bit right now,” Kane added. “We just have to forget what happened in the past and try and play a hockey game and try and play it one game at a time. It’s easy to say, but just worry about one game.”

The Wings can knock out the Presidents’ Trophy winning Blackhawks from the postseason with a win tonight in Game 5 at the United Center.

“There’s still a lot of belief in this room,” Kane said. “It’s easy to say you can go on a three-game winning streak, but that’s not something we’re looking at right now. We’re looking at one game at a time. We have a great opportunity at home where we have been good all year to win a game and that’s all we have to worry about is Game 5 and try and get ourselves back in the series. It’s going to be a tough task, they’re playing very well right now.”

After dropping the first game in the series, the Wings have won three straight and have outscored Chicago 9-2 in the process.

“It’s a huge game,” Kane said. “At home, hopefully the crowd will be behind us and we can use that to our advantage. I think this is a game where you just want to play hockey and worry about doing the things you need to do to win one game. As far as being a big game player I think all of us want to be that guy and prove that we can so there should be no reason for one guy steps up tonight and does that.”

Kane has scored each of the Blackhawks’ goals in each of the last two games.

“I would be nice to play with the lead, we haven’t done that the last couple of games,” Kane said. “It would be nice to do that. Maybe get in (Jimmy) Howard’s head at least a little bit, he’s playing great right now, but they’ve gotten some big breaks as far as hitting posts, but he’s made some great saves for them too. We want to control the tempo of the game and get that first one.”

If there is a Game 6, it will be Monday at 8 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena.

Datsyuk’s agent says it’s “BS rumors” that his client has signed with KHL already

CHICAGO — It didn’t take long for Pavel Datsyuk’s agent Gary Greenstin to shoot down a report in Sovetsky Sport that his client had reached a tentative three-year agreement with AK Bars Kazan of the KHL after his contract expires next season with the Wings.

“It’s BS rumors,” Greenstin said in a phone interview Friday. “He can’t talk to anybody. He’s under contract with the Detroit Red Wings.

“Nobody is talking to any Russian team,” Greenstin continued. “There are rules and he’s under contract.”

Datsyuk, who has expressed feelings about returning to play in Russia one day, will make $6.7 million next season and can’t sign an extension until July 5.

“We have time,” Greenstin said. “If he stays here it will be with the Red Wings.”

Wings all know that the toughest game in any series is the one to close things out

CHICAGO – If the Detroit Red Wings haven’t seen the best from the Chicago Blackhawks through the first four games of their Western Conference semifinal series, they’ll for sure see it Saturday night at the United Center.

The Blackhawks are at the point where it’s win-or-go-home, trailing the Wings 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

“It’s like every game that you play in the playoffs, it’s the most important one that you can play and they get harder and harder,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said at the team hotel in downtown Chicago. “We know that they’re a desperate team. I’d like to think that we’ll be desperate as well. You want to be as prepared as the opportunity is important and we have to play that hard.”

After dropping Game 1, 4-1, Detroit has won the last three games in the series, outscoring Chicago by a combined 9-2 over that stretch.

“It’s important, but it’s also the most difficult, knocking a team out of the playoffs,” goalie Jimmy Howard. “You’re expecting them to come out and play extremely hard, extremely urgent (Saturday) night and we’re going to have to be extremely focused at the same time.”

This is the Blackhawks’ first three-game losing streak this season. They had just three two-game losing streaks during the regular season.

“Our thing is it’s a race to four,” forward Daniel Cleary said. “Those guys are champions, they’re winners, they know the toughest game ever is the one to eliminate a team. We have to be ready. It’s going to be the hardest game we’ve played all season.”

Chicago began the season 21-0-3 and sprinted its way to the Presidents’ Trophy.

“They had a sense of urgency realizing the importance of the game (Thursday), but knowing some of those guys and their mindsets they know that they can win three in a row, they’ve done it the whole year.”

And what a difference a couple weeks make.

The Wings were on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs by Anaheim in Game 6 at Joe Louis, only to win that game in overtime and then ousting the Ducks in Game 7 on the road.

“We learned a lot,” forward Henrik Zetterberg said. “As a team here, the last two weeks and so far in the playoffs we’ve done a lot of good things. We did a few bad things. We lost a lead in the third a couple times and we won a few in overtime. I think we got a lot of experience the last month or so and I think it’s good for the club.”

In the opening series with the Ducks the Wings lost a three-goal lead and a two-goal lead in the third period only to rebound and win the games in overtime.

They also never held a games-lead in the series until taking Game 7.

Then, the Wings were outplayed in the opener with the Blackhawks over the final two periods after an even opening 20 minutes.

“Game 1 wasn’t the game we wanted to play,” Cleary said. “We regrouped and had a good Game 2. Obviously Game 3 was another good game, we got some timely scoring from depth players and (Thursday) night was just a battle all game and we just came out ahead. The turn of the series, I don’t know if the series has turned, we’re just in the lead.”

Every player and coach knows the importance of getting out to a good start Saturday.

“The start is important every night,” Babcock said. “I didn’t think we were very good (Thursday), we gave up 14 shots and were very loose in the first period, turned the puck over and weren’t sharp. We got better as the game went on, we got eight in the second and six in the third, so we need to start on time tomorrow, for sure. I think when you’re on the road that first 10 minutes are always important.”

“The lead is important, the start is important,” Cleary said. “You want to go out and play a good road game. Their building is going to be loud and we have to keep our minds real sharp and play real loose. We can’t play tight.”

Since the Presidents’ Trophy was introduced in 1985-86, the Wings are 2-1 in the playoffs against the team that won it. They beat Colorado (1997) and Dallas (1998) and lost to Edmonton (1987).

“I guess the way that I look at it is when you’re coaching and playing it usually doesn’t matter to you what the people on the outside think,” Babcock said when asked about being in a position that no one felt they would be at against the Blackhawks. “It matters what you think and we think we have a good group and we’re determined to keep playing and we have a tough task ahead of us but we’re excited for our opportunity.”

The last time the Wings won consecutive series as the lower-seeded team was 1997.

Helm’s ice time shut down for now; surgery to fix his back has yet to be talked about

DETROIT – Darren Helm’s continuous up-and-down issues with his back took another turn downward.

Helm has once again had to stop skating and just focus on off-ice training.

“I’m not skating, just doing rehab and trying to get strong again,” Helm said. “I really haven’t been strong for a while. That’s one of the causes for these setbacks and I have to continue to keep training and get strong and then go out onto the ice.”

Helm, 26, last skated prior to Game 3 in the Wings’ first round series with Anaheim on May 4 and that time was cut short because it didn’t feel right.

The doctors shut him down after that.

“Something happened and I was in quite a bit of pain, so I’ve stayed off,” Helm said. “I haven’t been on since. I probably feel decent enough to go and twirl around. That’s probably the hardest part for me is knowing that I can go and probably twirl around, but at the same time we know it hasn’t been successful in the past. We just have to find a different way to deal with it.

“I try not to think about it or talk about it too often, but that’s the case,” Helm continued. “I feel better a little bit each day by doing what everyone is telling me what to do. So it’s progress. As long as I stay off the ice for a while it will get better, I hope.”

Helm has been sidelined pretty much the entire season with a slightly torn disc in his back.

“I think it all depends on the weight room and where I’m at there and how I’m feeling and what I can and can’t do,” Helm said when asked about if he has a timetable for returning on to the ice. “We’ll see from there. We haven’t talked about that at all.

Helm, who has played one game this year, works only on an elliptical because sitting on a stationary bike hurts.

“I feel pretty good and feel that I can go out onto the ice and get going, but we’ve proven three or four times already that that doesn’t work,” Helm said. “Just a different approach and hopefully this one works.”

Helm continues to be a mainstay in the Wings’ locker room.

“They’ve been great,” Helm said of his teammates. “They’ve always been good. They’ve always been curious about how I’ve been doing and they’ve given me support and trying to find ways to make me feel better. You just can’t ask for anything more from a team like this.”

There are no plans thus far for Helm to have surgery this offseason.

“We haven’t talked about that,” Helm said. “They haven’t found anything that warrants to go under the knife. We’re just doing what we’re doing. It’s slow and not fun, but it needs to be done as I look forward my future and the few years that I have left here.”

Helm has been on the wrong end of a rash of injuries of late.

He missed the Wings’ week-long training camp and the first three games of the season with a back injury, which was the first of his playing career.

He hit by a puck on Nov. 2 during an informal skate in Troy, breaking an orbital bone.

On March 17, he missed the final 10 regular-season games with a sprained MCL. Then, in his first game back, the playoff opener against Nashville, he had tendons in his forearm sliced by a skate.

Toews’ second period meltdown puts Wings on brink of eliminating Blackhawks

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings finally figured out how to score a power play goal on the Chicago Blackhawks this postseason.

And that success could not have come at a better time.

Jakub Kindl scored the power play goal midway through the game and it proved to be the game winner as the Wings grabbed a 3-1 strangle hold of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with Chicago after the 2-0 win Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.

“That was huge for all of us,” Kindl said. “We knew we had to pick it up on our power play. They’ve been playing so good as a team on the PK. That was a huge goal for us.”

The Wings can end the series Saturday at 8 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago.

“This was the biggest game of my life so far and the biggest goal I’ve had,” Kindl said. “The series is not over yet. We’re happy with those two games we’ve played here. But they’re a great team and they’re not going to give. It’s going to be tough going back to play in their building. We’re just going to try and play the same way we did last two games, play on our toes and play tight in our neutral zone.”

Daniel Cleary added an empty-net goal with 38.2 seconds left and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for his second career shutout in the playoffs.

Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks.

Chicago’s Jonathan Toews picked the wrong time to have a meltdown.

Toews was sent off for three consecutive penalties in the middle frame, the second of which led to a Wings goal.

Pavel Datsyuk dug the puck out from behind Chicago’s goal and fed it to Johan Franzen, who quickly got it to Carlo Colaiacovo at the point. After Colaiacovo pulled off a shot he found Kindl and his shot beat Crawford with a second left in the Wings’ power play.

Chicago had been successful killing off 30 consecutive power play chances by the opposition to begin the postseason.
Toews was sent off at 5:20 for hooking and then he was assessed back-to-back high sticking penalties at 8:04 and 10:54.

“I’m not going to say anything about the officiating,” Toews said. “Obviously, I disagree with the calls but it’s in the heat of the moment. They see what they see. I’ve got to be careful of my stick. That doesn’t help my team, but I still think we played hard through it, found a way to stay in the game, killed off two big penalties.”

After scoring a goal on their first power-place chance in the series, Chicago has gone 0-for-11 with the man advantage, including 0-for-3 in Game 4.

“Everyone’s a little pissed off,” Crawford said. “I thought we played well again. It just seems like we can’t get bounces. Three off the post and they get one off the post and in. That pretty much sums it up for the last couple of nights for us.”

After dropping Game 1 in the series, the Wings have won the last three in a row by a combined score of 9-2.

This is the Blackhawks’ first three-game losing streak this season. They had just three two-game losing streaks during the regular season.

Chicago began the season 21-0-3.

“We’re getting chances, going to the net hard and doing a lot of good things,” Crawford said. “I think there’s times when you’re just not getting bounces and doing a lot of things right. I just can’t explain it. It’s another thing if you’re not playing hard and you’re not battling. That’s not the case with our team right now.”

And the Wings didn’t sit back like they did in Game 3 where they had a two-goal lead and it led to a number of scoring chances for both teams.

Crawford stoned Brendan Smith midway through the third period after he took a drop pass from Gustav Nyquist.

Chicago had the net two best scoring chances. The first came on a 2-on-1 where Howard sprawled to make a right pad save to stop Dave Bolland. Then, Michal Handzus hit the post to the right of Howard.

In the second periods, Nick Leddy hit the post to the right of Howard with a floater.

“(Howard) made some big saves and we hit some posts,” Chicago’s Patrick Sharp said. “We knew he was a good goalie coming into the playoffs and nothing has changed.”

Just past the three-minute mark of the first period, Toews found himself open on a 2-on-1 and elected to shoot, but was denied by Howard’s right pad.

With less than five minutes to go in the opening period, Patrick Sharp got behind the Wings’ defense at their blue line, but Howard got a blocker on the shot.

That chance led to the Wings’ best scoring opportunity in the first 20 minutes when Daniel Cleary had a good look in the slot after taking a pass from Pavel Datsyuk, but couldn’t be Crawford.

Chicago got the first power play of the game after Niklas Kronwall hooked Toews. The penalty was caused when Kronwall’s clearing attempt got right on the stick of Toews.

Brendan Smith left the game with 3:22 left in the first period after getting hit on his right knee cap from a shot by Dave Bolland. Smith needed to be helped off the ice. He missed just one shift.

It was the second straight game the teams were scoreless after one period.

Wings know importance of being up 3-1 or tied 2-2 with Blackhawks

DETROIT – Quick update from the Detroit Red Wings’ morning skate prior to Game 4 tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks at Joe Louis Arena.

The Wings will try and do something tonight that no other team has been able to do this season and that’s win three in a row against the Blackhawks.

“We have to play the same way, but they were hungry last game and had some good chances,” forward Cory Emmerton said. “We expect them to be even more amped up. It’s the playoffs and we expect everything to be thrown at us.”

After dropping Game 1 in the series, the Wings have won the last two in a row by a combined score of 7-2.

Chicago had just three two-game losing streaks during the regular season.

“We have to ready and play the same way,” Emmerton said. “If we do have a lead and we play like we did in the third (in Game 3) and just sit back we just have to keep going at them, but at the same time be responsible defensively.”

Chicago began the season 21-0-3.

“I don’t think we should talk too much about standings, but it’s still home-ice advantage,” forward Damien Brunner said. “If we can win in front of our fans again then it’ll put us in a really good spot.”

Game 5 is Saturday at 8 p.m. at the United Center in Chicago.

“We’re in a good spot, but on the other side of things we haven’t done anything,” Brunner said. “It’s good for a young group of guys to know that you can win some games so that definitely helps.”

The Wings will go with the same lineup they’ve used during their current two-game winning streak.

“The regular season is a wash,” Emmerton said. “Everything starts new. You find that out some way or another. This year I don’t think it’s been really any different as far as the playoffs are concerned. I think the season aspect of it, teams didn’t get the whole season to get playing their best hockey. They come on, playing strong at the end, and they just squeak into the playoffs. I can’t really tell you where we would have finished had we played 82 games. Maybe we would have been higher. You just don’t know. We don’t really think about that ever. We just focus on the now.”

There’s a chance DeKeyser could return if Wings have long postseason run

DETROIT – Drew Miller did it, so why can’t Danny DeKeyser?

And that’s why the rookie defenseman isn’t ruling out returning before the playoffs end.

“As long as they keep winning it gives me a better chance for a return with every win they get,” DeKeyser said. “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to play in a playoff game again.”

DeKeyser is still sporting a cast on his right hand that he broke in Game 2 of the Wings’ opening round series against Anaheim on May 2.

Miller returned from a broken right hand suffered on April 20 and has played the last two games of Detroit’s Western Conference semifinal series with the Chicago Blackhawks.

“It’s healing pretty good,” DeKeyser said. “There’s a plate and screws in there, so it’s pretty sore still. The surgery is helping it heal quicker than if I didn’t have it.”

The original diagnosis had him out 6-8 weeks, which would have sidelined him to the end of June.

“I’m not ruling that out,” DeKeyser said when asked if he could return for the next round if the Wings advance. “I’m not 100 percent sure on that. As it is right now, I’m not ready yet, but if it keeps progressing like it has been, I think I might have a chance to do that. I can’t say for sure yet. I just need to see how it is another week or two.

“I tried to stay in shape and kept working hard,” DeKeyser added. “I wasn’t doing a whole lot of skating a week or two ago. Now I’m on the ice every day, so I’m getting my lungs back and my skating legs back. So I think that’s a benefit for me right now.”

DeKeyser, who could get his cast off as early as Wednesday night after seeing the doctor, is still having a tough time gripping his stick.

“Once this (cast) comes off, I’ll have a lot more range of movement and we’ll see how tight I can grip the stick and hopefully I can shoot the puck and take slap shots,” DeKeyser said. “I think they were planning on me to be out until early July. Nobody was really sure on that.”

Brunner nails Nyquist below the belt prior to Game 3, with video

DETROIT — Damien Brunner was all over Twitter for a video that saw him nailing teammate Gustav Nyquist just below the waistline with a soccer ball.

The incident occurred prior to Game 3. In that game, Brunner assisted on a goal by Nyquist to opening the scoring.

“I want to see the whole thing,” Brunner said. “I heard they showed it on TV in Canada. They showed us in warm-ups and then they showed his goal. That’s funny that I assisted on his goal too.

“That only happened because we’re not in the PK meetings, so we were the only two guys out there playing soccer,” Brunner continued. “We play to 10, and this guy, normally, you give him the ball and he can never give you a nice ball back. So he gets the ball up here (pointing to the outside of his head) and if I try to touch it I’m never able to get it back to him. It was like 10 times in a row so I picked it up and threw it at him. Lucky I hit the bull’s eye.”

Here’s a link to the video on sportingnews.com

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-05-21/gustav-nyquist-soccer-ball-gif-damien-brunner-red-wings-blackhawks-nhl-playoffs

Blackhawks’ first test of adversity

DETROIT — The Wings have given the Blackhawks something they haven’t had to face this lockout-shortened season … adversity.

Chicago began the season 21-0-3, an NHL record, and all but coasted to the Presidents’ Trophy.

“I think all year long we’ve been in a very favorable position,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “I don’t think we’ve been against it in any areas as far as many stretches in games being down or definitely in a series we haven’t been down.”

The Blackhawks, who trail Detroit 2-1 in the best-of-seven series, needed five games to eliminate Minnesota in the first round.

“It’s a great test for us, it’s a good challenge for us,” Quenneville said. “The adversity that we’re in right now we’ve got to find a way to overcome it and it will be a good challenge at the end of the day to find out about everybody.”

Wings will look to create “chaos” in front of Blackhawks’ goal while on the power play

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings had six power play goals in their opening round series with the Anaheim Ducks.

Through three games of their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series against the Chicago Blackhawks, they have yet to record a goal with the man advantage.

At practice Wednesday, Wings coach Mike Babcock tinkered with his forward units, keeping his top two lines during 5-on-5 play intact on the power play.

“We went through every single scoring chance we had on the power play in this series this morning,” Babcock said. “We talked a lot about our power play. We had a run through and let the guys see what’s going on and we tried to make adjustments. We’ve had some real good looks, but we haven’t scored yet. Sometimes when you get real good looks and you haven’t scored you stop shooting.”

If things remain the same from practice, Justin Abdelkader will be added to the power play, skating alongside Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen.

“I don’t know, we’ll see, it was just one practice,” Abdelkader said when asked if he will see power play time in Game 4 Thursday at 8 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena. “If I get the opportunity I’m just going to do what I do, go to the net, retrieve pucks and be hard on the puck.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Abdelkader added. “Things are constantly changing, constantly trying different things. If my name gets called I will be ready.”

The Wings are 0-for-12 on the power play this series, registering 16 shots on goal.

“Chicago does a good job blocking shots,” Abdelkader said. “We just have to find ways to get the pucks on the net, create second and third chances by getting pucks back. They’re a good penalty killing team and any team that’s that good on the penalty kill for that long is doing a lot of good things. I think just commitment to their system is why it’s working. We have to find a way.”

Chicago has not allowed a power-play goal this entire postseason, killing off 29 straight penalties.

“We need good net front presence, let’s pound the puck, let’s get it back, let’s throw it in there and create some chaos,” Babcock said. “We’ll get one. We’ll loosen up and get going. Right now our power play has to be a bigger factor than it has been in this series.”

Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula and Daniel Cleary made up the other unit up front, while the blue line parings remained the same – Damien Brunner/Niklas Kronwall and Carlo Colaiacovo/Jakub Kindl.

Colaiacovo agrees with his coach about creating more chaos in front of the Blackhawks goal.

“Get pucks through, traffic in front of the goalie and create chaos in front on their net,” Colaiacovo said. “It’s not like we’re not getting chances. The pucks don’t go in and sometimes those things happen. We’re confident in the groups we put out there. When they’re out there they’re going to get a goal or create momentum for us. That’s what a power play is for. You want to take advantage of the extra man, but you also want to make sure the momentum that comes off it stays on your side.

“Sometimes the best thing is to just get it down there, whether it’s on net or not on net, you just want to get it down there and create some chaos with their killers,” Colaiacovo continued. “When you’re retrieving pucks off rebounds or during chaos that’s when the penalty killers move and things open up.”

Through three games of the series, the first power play unit was made up of Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Franzen, while Filppula, Cleary and Gustav Nyquist was the second unit.

“We have to find a way to get through their layers of players that they present when we decide to take the shot,” Kronwall said. “We have to get the pucks in there. We haven’t done a good enough job of that. We have guys in front that are doing a great job and we have to make sure we get the puck in there.”

Zetterberg feels the Wings are generating more chances early in games with the man advantage, but once they have to lead it changes.

“Later in games when we have the lead and we get the chance on the power play we’re a little too cautious,” Zetterberg said. “We just got to be on our toes, keep playing, go for the next goal. We’ve been better on 5-on-5 and now we’ve just got to do it when we get a power play, too.

“It shows that they’re doing something right over there, but it’s a challenge for us to get that first one and hopefully it will come (Thursday),” Zetterberg added.

There are just two teams – San Jose and New York Rangers – out of those that are still in the playoffs that have been penalized less than Chicago.

“When you’ve had some success it’s an ongoing challenge,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “They’re always looking for ways of doing different things and there’s probably going to be something we haven’t seen moving forward. So, it’s a changing of looks and making sure that you adapt. But commend the guys from the goalie on out on the job that they’re doing, but that’s always a work in progress.”