Babcock juggles up his top three lines two days into preparing for series opener with Boston

DETROIT >> Just two days into Detroit’s preparation for its opening round series with the Boston Bruins, Wings coach Mike Babcock has already changed up his forward line combinations.

On Tuesday, Pavel Datsyuk centered Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader, while Tomas Jurco was on a line centered by Darren Helm along with Daniel Alfredsson.

On Wednesday, Nyquist was with Datsyuk and Abdelkader and Jurco was reunited with the Kid Line along with Riley Sheahan and Tomas Tatar.

“I think it’s helped even more that we’ve adjusted so well and we’ve done it together and we’ve relied on each other,” Sheahan said of the lines with his former Grand Rapids Griffins. “Obviously Tats and Nyqi and sometimes Tats and Jurcs, we have some good chemistry but I think it’s just working hard and that’s the biggest thing.”

Franzen, Helm and Alfredsson made up another line.

“There are a lot of things we’ve got to do,” Helm said. “They’re a really good team and we’ve got to be on top of our game, doing everything we can as well as we can. If we do that, then we’ve got a chance to be successful. If not, if we’re not driving to the net, forechecking hard, being in position, then it might be a short series.”

The fourth line of Luke Glendening centering David Legwand and Drew Miller remained the same.

Ericsson back on skates Thursday; hasn’t ruled out return in first round if series goes long

DETROIT >> Jonathan Ericsson will skate on his own Thursday for the first time since having successful surgery to stabilize his fractured finger and repair a partially torn tendon on March 19.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Ericsson said. “It’s been almost four weeks now.”

He still won’t be able to handle the puck due to the splint on his left hand.

“I think it’s too early to tell,” Ericsson said when asked if he could return sometime in the first round of the playoffs. “The round could go on for about two weeks. It’s not going to be at the beginning of this round I know that. I’ve got three more pins in there that need to be taken out. I think it’s next week, end of next week. After that I think they will know more what the timeframe it.”

Ericsson had one of the pins removed last Friday and will have the other three taken out in 10-14 days.

“The tendon is taking more time than the bones to heal,” Ericsson said. “It’s looking pretty good from what the doctors are saying. We’ll see how it looks when they take the pins out.

“It was a shot that hit me and it must have hit me badly,” Ericsson said. “The doctor had to go in there and puzzle everything back together. They did a really good job. It looks nice right now. It was a bad break, bad breaks.”

Wings focus on special teams in second full practice before playoffs begin

DETROIT >> Quick update from the Wings second day of practice as they prepare for their opening round series with the Boston Bruins, which begins Friday.

The team worked a lot of special teams.

“We knew coming in we were going to grind (Tuesday), do a lot of heavy lifting, then specialty teams today, and we’ll have a little more tempo and special teams (Thursday). But obviously we were given a good opportunity to prepare and we want to be as prepared as we can.”

The Wings originally thought the series with Boston was going to open Thursday.

The Bruins ended the regular season with the third best power play in the league, scoring 21.7 percent of the time.

“Well size, their ability to retrieve pucks,” Babcock said when asked why Boston’s power play is so effective. “Everybody in the National Hockey League, off a faceoff, off a puck put on the wall, off a shot, tries to put as much pressure as they can on you. So the bigger you are, the more you can handle the tight quarters to get the puck out and get the team backed off again. They do that well.”

That will test the Wings’ 12th ranked penalty kill.

“They have a big guy at the net, they can shoot the puck up top and they have good skill, and they have two different looks,” Babcock said. “They have a spread power play in the one group and an overload with (Patrice) Bergeron high in the other so they make it hard for good depth obviously. They score goals so that’s what’s going to make them hard.

“I’m a big believer in our penalty kill, (assistant coach) Bill Peters has done a phenomenal job with our penalty kill all year long and that and the goaltending, we have to shut their power play down,” Babcock continued. “They can’t run, go crazy on the power play for us to have success.”

Everyone that skated Tuesday took part in the skate Wednesday.

Quote of the day II … Wings coach Mike Babcock

DETROIT >> Wings coach Mike Babcock when asked what facets of the game this feels his team is better in than the Boston.

“I think we’re complete,” Babcock said. “I think we’re way better than people think. I think we’re a hard out.”

Quote of the day … Wings coach Mike Babcock

DETROIT >> Wings coach Mike Babcock on what the advantages and disadvantages were to starting the series on Friday after last playing on Sunday.

“I don’t know what the disadvantage could be for our team,” Babcock said. “We needed the time, we need to freshen up some people. We had ground hard to get in. When they were in here they gave guys days off and we couldn’t give anybody days off and the other thing about it is when you’re the lower seed, the more detailed you can be, the better off you can be. And so preparation time has been great for us. Ideally it will be an equalizer and give us an opportunity to really compete.”

NHL Playoff Predictions … Los Angeles will win the Cup in six games over Boston

DETROIT – Breakdown and predictions for the NHL playoffs, which begins Wednesday.

First Round
Eastern Conference
(1) Boston Bruins vs. (WC2) Detroit Red Wings
The Wings were the only team this season to beat the Presidents’ Trophy winning Bruins three times; unfortunately none of those wins carry over to the postseason.
“The reality is you have to play well,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “If you look at it in their shoes they’ve got to believe they’re in the driver’s seat. We believe we’re going to be a tough out so something’s got to give.”
Boston is as physical a team as you’ll find in the NHL that has a solid four lines, great goaltending and a strong defensive core.
“I think we’re actually a harder team than we’ve ever been since I’ve been here,” Babcock said. “I think we have the ability to play heavy. We have some smaller type players that have the ability to be physical. What sets them aside from anyone else is (Milan) Lucic and (Zdeno) Chara. They have them, we don’t. We have a lot of big bodies as well.”
Pick: Bruins in 6.

(2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (3) Montreal Canadiens
All four meetings this season between the teams have been very close, three of which were decided after regulation and another didn’t become a two-goal advantage for the Lightning, who won three of the four games, until an empty net goal in the final minute. This series will come down to goaltending and the Canadiens have a decisive edge with Carey Price. But Lightning rookie sensations, Ondrej Palat and Tyler Johnson, could help steal a game or two.
Pick: Canadiens in 5.

(1) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (WC1) Columbus Blue Jackets
If Marc-Andre Fleury can shake off his past two postseasons – 4.11 goals-against average and a .857 save percentage in 11 appearances – the Penguins should advance with ease. Pittsburgh won all five meetings with the team, outscoring Columbus 16-7. The Blue Jackets’ only hope is a strong performance from their netminder, Sergei Bobrovsky, who played in just one game against Pittsburgh this season.
Pick: Penguins in 6.

(2) New York Rangers vs. (3) Philadelphia Flyers
It’s all about home-ice advantage in this series and the Rangers have it, winning eight straight at Madison Square Garden over the Flyers. Claude Giroux has really come on strong for Philadelphia ending the season third in the league scoring race after not notching his first goal until 15 games in.
Pick: Rangers in 5.

Western Conference
(1) Colorado vs. (WC1) Minnesota
Patrick Roy’s Avalanche have been quite the story all season long and should breeze into the next round in large part because of the edge in goal with Semyon Varlamov. The Wild’s Ilya Bryzgalov played well down the stretch, but has had his meltdowns in the postseason.
Pick: Avalanche in 5.

(2) St. Louis vs. (3) Chicago
This series had all the makings for a classic. It can still if the Blues, who lost six straight to end the season, get a few of their injured forwards back sometime in the series. The Blackhawks expect to have two of their key injured players back – Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.
Pick: Blackhawks in 4.

(1) Anaheim vs. (WC2) Dallas
The Ducks’ season ended in the first round a year ago and it could end the same way this year against the offensive-minded Stars. Anaheim has a lot of questions in goal, while Dallas, which has won two of the three meetings this season, has a 33-win Kari Lehtonen between the pipes.
Pick: Stars in 7.

(2) San Jose vs. (3) Los Angeles
Easily could be the best series in the opening round. The teams played a classic series last year with the Kings prevailing in seven games, with five of the games being decided by one goal. Look for more of that this time around.
Pick: Kings in 7.

Second Round
Eastern Conference
Boston over Montreal in 7 games
Pittsburgh over New York Rangers in 7 games

Western Conference
Colorado over Chicago in 6 games
Los Angeles over Dallas in 5 games

Eastern Conference Finals
Boston over Pittsburgh in 5 games

Western Conference Finals
Los Angeles over Colorado in 7 games

Stanley Cup Final
Los Angeles over Boston in 6 games

Griffins boss honored

DETROIT >> Grand Rapids coach Jeff Blashill was given the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, which is handed out to the American Hockey League’s outstanding coach each season.

“He’s been amazing,” said defenseman Ryan Sproul, who played his first game with the Wings on Sunday. “I came out of juniors pretty much pure offense and now I’ve turned into more of an all-around player, I feel like. And he’s told me that before, so that’s good to hear and I appreciate everything that he has done.”

Blashill was a Wings assistant for one season before taking over the Griffins job last year, leading them to winning the Calder Cup.

With the amount of injuries in Detroit, Blashill lost a number of his offensive threats including Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan.

Tatar on Chara: “Great guy, but he’s not real friendly on the ice.”

DETROIT >> Tomas Tatar knows hulking Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara like a friend.

But that friendship only goes so far.

“Great guy,” Tatar said. “But he’s not real friendly on the ice.”

Chara has mentored his fellow Slovak since Tatar he was drafted.

“Even maybe before I got drafted I started practicing with big guys back home like Marian Hossa and those guys,” Tatar said. “He helps me and gives me advice all the time. That’s why I think he’s a great leadership example for me. We are friends, but on the ice everybody wants to win and it would be nice to beat him.”

The two played in this past Olympics together as well as the 2012 World Championships.

Tatar however doesn’t train with Chara, 37, in the offseason.

“I would say it’s pretty much impossible to train with Z,” Tatar smiled. “That’s what he does off the ice. He’s doing extremely heavy weights, he’s so big and so heavy, just how he practices. It doesn’t matter how old he is, he does the same thing all the time. It’s pretty unique. Everybody knows that around the league, that’s why he gets so much respect.”

Chara was second on the Bruins in hits this season with 163, but Tatar can’t recall if he’s been on the end of one of them.

“No matter what would happen, even if he hits me, I would never get mad at him off the ice,” Tatar said. “What happens on the ice stays on the ice and we are friends off the ice. I probably will text him when we get to Boston.”

Tatar said he talks to Chara on a regular basis, but has not spoken with him since learning the two will be playing each other in the first round of the playoffs, which begins Friday in Boston.

“Sometimes we notice each other when we’re playing,” Tatar said. “It’s fun to play and challenge my friend. I respect him so much.
Chara is nearly a foot taller than Tatar, 23.

“When he stands on the hash marks in his own zone he’s got one foot on one hash and one foot on the other hash and he can reach to your blue line,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said of Chara. “I’ve coached against him a ton. He’s a good player. As good a player as he is he’s probably a better leader and better person. Those are the guys you build a franchise around.”

Chara is a six-time postseason NHL All-Star and won the Norris Trophy, which is handed out to the league’s top defenseman, in 2009.

“He’s so big out there, but he moves so well for that size,” Niklas Kronwall said. “He’s a really good skater for that size. His stick is ridiculously long. The ice he can cover, I don’t think we’ll see anyone be able to cover that kind of ice surface again. And he just makes the right plays. He’s so effective for them on the power play. He’s got a bomb for a shot. He means a lot to that team. He’s very impressive. I’ve got lots and lots of respect for him.”