Babcock goes back to Tuesday’s line combinations as he prepares for anything in series with Bruins

DETROIT >> On Thursday, Wings coach Mike Babcock went back to the forward line combinations he used Tuesday at practice.

Those lines were Pavel Datsyuk centering Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader, while Tomas Jurco was on a line centered by Darren Helm along with Daniel Alfredsson. Gustav Nyquist was back with the Kid Line of Riley Sheahan and Tomas Tatar.

“In my mind we have three ways we can go,” Babcock said after practice Thursday at Joe Louis Arena. “I tried to go through those so you’re always prepared. You’re trying to see in advance for adjustments so we’re trying to do that. We think in their building (Patrice) Bergeron is probably going to play against Pav and probably (Zdeno) Chara as well.

On Wednesday, Nyquist was with Datsyuk and Abdelkader and Jurco was with Sheahan and Tatar. Franzen, Helm and Alfredsson made up the other line.

“So we can load up that line or have different kind of lines,” Babcock said. “We want to have a plan for adjustment if it’s not going the way you want.”

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

Wings’ motto: ‘They can’t hit what they can’t catch’

DETROIT >> The Detroit Red Wings’ motto heading into their first round series with the Boston Bruins seems to be, ‘They can’t hit what they can’t catch.’

“They are a hard, big and strong team,” Tomas Tatar said. “If you want to avoid a hit you have to be fast and move the puck fast, skate a lot, just try to beat the D by your speed.

“We have lots of fast guys,” Tatar continued. “That’s why I think the Bruins have a problem with us. We just have to use it against them. It’s going to be a hard matchup, but that’s what we’ve got to do.”

“We’re a pretty speedy team and that’s been in our game plan to use our speed,” Gustav Nyquist said. “Of course that’s something we’re going to try to use. They can skate as well. They’re probably a little bit bigger as a team than us, so we’ll try to skate as much as possible.”

“Their physical-ness from top to bottom,” Jimmy Howard said when asked what he feared the most from the Bruins. “Seems like every single guy is over 6-foot, 200 pounds and can skate. They’re physical. We’re going to have to cut guys off and not allow them to get on top of our defensemen.”

“We need to use our speed to slow them down, stay above their players, cut guys off, don’t give them anything easy,” Darren Helm said. “Get a good forecheck going and run their D. It’s going to be important. The more time we spend in their zone the better. It’s going to be a tough series.”

As big and burly as the Bruins seem to be, they only ranked 13th at the end of the regular season in hits with 2,008.

“No,” Johan Franzen said when asked if he was worried about the physical style Boston plays. “We’ve been talking about that for the last nine years that I’ve played here in the playoffs, how tough all of the other teams are but that’s usually not a problem for us.”

“I don’t think it worries us at all,” Niklas Kronwall said. “We’ve played big teams in the past. I don’t think that’s been a factor when we played those teams. We have to utilize our speed and try and play as physical as we can and be heavy on the puck.”

The Wings finished 13 spots below in hits, totaling 1,621.

“You only have speed if you execute. If you don’t execute you have no speed,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “Their focus will be to take our speed away by getting on the forecheck and making sure we don’t execute. Our focus will be first-time execution so we can have speed so we can play in their zone.

“They’re a big team and they want to be as physical and heavy as much as they can be,” Babcock added. “When you’re a quick team you want to get on them.”

The influx of young skaters due to injuries has helped the Wings’ speed game and they’ll need all of it going against a big, deep and skilled group of Bruin forwards, six of which had 51 points or more this season.

The Bruins rank third in the NHL in goals per game (3.15), while Detroit was 16th (2.65).

Boston’s blue line is just as intimidating led by 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara.

“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 Chara. They have them, we don’t, but we have a lot of big bodies as well.”

If the Wings are able to get through all that they have a world class goalie to contend with in Tuukka Rask, who’s almost assured of earning a Vezina Trophy nomination.

The Wings did win the season series 3-1 with Boston, outscoring the Bruins, who have appeared in the Stanley Cup final two of the last three seasons, 13-9 in the process.

“It doesn’t mean much now, but we know that we can play with them,” Franzen said. “They also have a strong playoff history here lately. They’ve been going far for many years now so they know how to win in the playoffs, but so do we. It’s going to be a tough matchup and there are going to be some good games.”

“We’ve shown that we can handle the physicality,” Nyquist said. “They’re a good team and it’s going to be a challenge for us. They play physical but we’ve shown we can handle that in the past. That’s obviously something that we’re going to have to be ready for.”

This is the first meeting in the playoffs between this Original Six teams since 1957. The Bruins have won four of the series.

Zetterberg takes part in 30 minutes of practice; Babcock again reiterates how good having three days of practice was for this team

DETROIT >> Quick update from Wings practice prior to departing for Boston to open the series with the Bruins on Friday.

Henrik Zetterberg skated with the team for roughly 30 minutes and took part in a number of the drills.

“I think today is just one of the steps that I have to take,” Zetterberg said. “I have to start skating with the team a little bit. I didn’t do that much but hopefully I can do more tomorrow.

“It felt good,” Zetterberg added. “It’s fun to be out there with the boys again and like I said I didn’t do that much today but the stuff I did felt good and I’m looking forward to next time.”

Zetterberg underwent successful surgery on Feb. 21 in New York to remove part of a disc which was rubbing against a nerve, which caused severe back pain.

“I think you just have to take it step by step,” Zetterberg said. “I got the medical team looking after me too and they will pull me out when they think it’s time but I think today I was probably out there for 30 minutes and tomorrow I have morning skate and hopefully I can get out there a little bit more and still feel good.”

Zetterberg has been sidelined since the Winter Olympics after playing just one game with Sweden.

He hasn’t ruled out possibly returning in the first round of the playoffs, but it’s more likely he’ll be back if the Wings advance to the next round.

“I think that time-wise we were shooting for round two if everything goes well,” Zetterberg said. “We’re taking it step by step here and day by day and increase intensity every day and hopefully in a couple days maybe I can do some more battling drills.”

Despite playing in just 45 of the Wings’ 82 games this season, Zetterberg finished tied for third on the team in points with 48 and led the team with a plus-19.

“I saw him at Nick Lidstrom’s retirement March 6 and he couldn’t walk,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He hobbled his way out onto the ice. Now he’s out there skating. That’s a long way in a short period of time. Anyone that’s been injured and off a good chunk of time when they arrive back they see how fast everything is. It’s hard. That’s the tough thing about injuries, even when you get the guys back they’re not themselves. They wear the same number, but they don’t do what they did because it’s just too hard.”

Zetterberg, 33, missed 11 games in December with a slightly herniated disc. He also missed two games in January due to it.

Zetterberg began having issues with his back in 2008, which made him miss the All-Star break.
In 2007, he injured his vertebra and missed several weeks.

Jonathan Ericsson skated on his own for about 25 minutes.

He’s been out since having successful surgery to stabilize his fractured finger and repair a partially torn tendon on March 19.

Babcock again reiterated how good having three days of practice was for this team.

“We needed to get some guys healthy,” Babcock said. “We’ve had seven D all year, but then most of the year someone has been hurt so we’ve been wearing on six D in practice and in games instead of having eight. That was good to freshen up that group. We had some that were bumped and bruised.

“The lower seed, the more detailed orientated they can be to close the gap is good as well,” Babcock continued. “We know Boston now, but you can throw that stuff out too because once the puck is dropped it’s whoever wants it the most in the end is going to win. That’s how it happens. A least we’re prepared.”