Detroit Red Wings More Than Happy to Get in Through the Back Door

The Detroit Red Wings, who for the first time in many years find themselves in a battle just to get into the playoffs, feel that the route they are taking may be a blessing in disguise. “We like where we are at right now,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “Being in 8th place might cause some teams to take us lightly, but I can assure you that we are still a very good team capable of a deep playoff run. It goes along with the old expression that a team who gets in through the back door is the most dangerous. And I can assure you, we’ll be pounding and hammering at that back door harder than ever. There is nothing we as a group love more than pounding through a back door.” Pesty forward Tomas Holmstrom known for his unique ability to take punishment out front of the net in order to block the goaltender’s view, is perhaps the greatest example of this new Wings regime. “I’ll gladly take any nasty punishment they wanna dish out if it can result in a goal,” said Holmstrom. “My style of play is not to beat you with swift skating, fancy dekes or a lethal shot. I am the guy who likes to get right up the ass of the opponent all game long so that they know nothing is going to come easy when they play against the Detroit Red Wings. I guess you can say it fits in perfectly with where we are in the standings right now. Most of my goals come from standing in front of the net and sometimes getting a nice back-door pass from Pavel where I can gently slide the puck into a gaping net, so the whole ‘getting in the playoffs through the back door’ thing makes perfect sense to me.”

Offensively, the Red Wings turnaround has been lead by their two star centermen Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who say that their competitive nature with each other has really pushed each other to be better. “Oh yeah, me and Hank are always on each other’s ass,” said Datsyuk who is once again leading the Wings in scoring. “We are always pushing each other to be better in practice and I think it even carries into games.” “We have a strong chemistry,” said Zetterberg who’s two goals helped lead Detroit to a win over Pittsburgh on Monday night. “We always know where the other is going to be on the ice. On a rush up the ice I don’t even have to look and I know he’s gonna be right behind me, looking to sneak one through my legs and put it in a perfect spot for me to realease the puck past the goalie. It’s almost like a sixth sense.”

The Wings will look to pound the back-door harder and firmer than ever before when the St. Louis Blues come to town on Wednesday night. Puck-drop set for for 7:30 ET.