Wings learned last year not to take road games lightly

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The tangible advantage to being at home in the playoffs is getting favorable matchups and having a loud, cheering crowd. On the other hand, the visiting team sees an advantage, too, in that players often feel looser.


The Red Wings are banking on the latter and on having learned an important lesson from last year's start of the playoffs as they head into tonight's Game 3 against Columbus, holding a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

"It's the start we wanted to accomplish," defenseman Brad Stuart said, "but I think we have to be wary of this team getting up, 2-0, and then blowing it going into the other team's building for the next two games."

A year ago the Wings headed off to Game 3 of their first-round series against Nashville with two victories, only to return home with a tied series.

"Hopefully we learned something last year," Johan Franzen said. "We know it's going to be a lot tougher in their building. When you play in front of your home crowd, you get a lot of extra energy and extra adrenaline. So their speed is going to be a lot harder; they're going to forecheck harder, hit harder. They'll be better at everything, I think.

"We've had a good start, but most people expected us to win these first two games, so we haven't really done anything yet. It starts now on the road that we have to show what we can do."

Tonight will be Columbus' first-ever playoff game at Nationwide Arena.

"We've talked about that we have to be ready to play," Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We know they're going to be energized by the crowd, so we have to be prepared for that."

Plenty of teams already have won on the road in the 2009 NHL playoffs. Most notably there was Anaheim, the Western Conference eighth seed that went into Presidents' Trophy-winning San Jose and swaggered home with two victories. In the East, the New York Rangers returned home after two victories in Washington. There is something to be said for it being easier in some ways to play away from home.

"You can be more patient," Franzen said. "You can come in after the first period being down, 1-0, and you don't really worry about it -- you just keep going. You don't have to take any chances, just play solid defense and try to score on their mistakes."

The Wings won the last time they were in Columbus, playing a playoff-type game March 15 to earn a 4-0 victory.

 

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Blue Jackets want to challenge Chris Osgood more


If they hope to make their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Detroit even mildly interesting, the Blue Jackets must start getting to Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood.


First between the pipes, then between the ears.

So far, Osgood ? statistically one of the NHL?s worst goaltenders during the regular season ? has barely been tested by the Blue Jackets, and the Wings have zoomed to 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, with Game 3 set for tonight in Nationwide Arena.

?We haven?t tested him nearly enough,? Blue Jackets center Jason Williams said. ?He?s had one hard period where he?s had to make some good saves.

?Other than that ? in the two games combined ? we haven?t touched him. And that?s got to change.?

The Blue Jackets have generated just 33 shots on goal in the last five periods, and only 10 of them have been fired from within 10 feet of Osgood. Meanwhile, 14 have been launched from beyond 40 feet.

One might say that the Blue Jackets have not exposed what many believe is the Red Wings? only weakness.

Look at the numbers: Osgood?s regular-season save percentage (.887) ranked 44th out of 47 goaltenders with enough starts to qualify statistically. His goals-against average (3.09) was 40th out of 46.

However, it?s worth noting that Osgood?s career save percentage in 108 playoff games is .918, including 61 wins, 14 shutouts and three Stanley Cups. And so far in the series, Osgood has stopped 45 of 46 shots (.978), including a 25-save shutout on Saturday.

In the dressing room yesterday, the Blue Jackets had a hard time recalling any second or third chances against Osgood, and with good reason. In the two games, the Blue Jackets have had scoring chances off rebounds only twice, and Osgood has stopped both of them.

?We have to get to this goalie,? Blue Jackets winger Raffi Torres said. ?We?re making it easy on him. We?re not getting enough pucks to the net, we?re not following pucks to the net.

?He?s made some good saves, obviously. But we haven?t challenged him a lot. We need to do that. We have to make him work.?


To that end, Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock unfurled the latest round of line changes yesterday, although he cautioned that the lines should be written in pencil, not pen.

Center Antoine Vermette has been moved up between left winger Kristian Huselius and right winger Rick Nash on the No. 1 line.

It is hoped that Vermette?s ability to make plays with the puck at high speed will help create space on the ice for Huselius, who has barely carried the puck so far in the series, and Nash, who has just three shots on goal after the first period of Game 1.

?Antoine?s always looking to pass before anything else,? Nash said, ?and that should complement me and Huselius.?

Hitchcock yesterday signaled that he?s done talking about line changes and head-to-head matchups with the Red Wings. And he discounted any talk of getting into Osgood?s head.

?You?re not going to get into the head of somebody who has won three Stanley Cups,? Hitchcock said. ?I don?t care who Detroit throws on the ice, which pair of defensemen they put out there, or which goaltender they start. I only care about how we?re prepared and how we play.

?Team who worry only about themselves this time of year tend to be really, really successful. The ones who get caught up in the other stuff ? and you can hear it in their voice, and read it in the articles coming out of their series ? they are not having much success.?