DETROIT — It’s a problem that’s been plaguing the Red Wings recently, and it needs to be corrected quickly.
A period of hockey — maybe not even the entire 20 minutes, but a brief spell of mishaps — that snowballs, and suddenly, the Wings lose control of the game.
It happened twice against Washington, in the third period, both times, and against Carolina, Utah and Columbus.A bad stretch of hockey that resulted in a loss at the end of the night.
And the Red Wings can’t afford too many more losses.
“We’ve talked about it a lot, and to be honest, we haven’t come up with a solution,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “We’ve done it, at times. When you don’t have your ‘A’ game — and you’re not going to have it every night — when things don’t go your way, you have to shore some things up and play the next five minutes, play hockey, and make sure nothing happens.
“We’ve showed we can do it. We just have to do it a lot more.”
The Wings attempted to iron out certain issues during Thursday’s practice at Belfor Training Center, working exclusively on five-on-five, even-strength situations that have become trouble spots.
One area that coach Todd McLellan wanted to work on was two-on-one breaks. The Wings have had some lately and didn’t capitalize — which, for a team struggling to find offense, is costly.
“We had a coach keep track and we did put some in, which is good; we just didn’t take it for granted,” McLellan said. “We worked on it and got better on it. But we need to translate it into the games. We’ve had numerous two-on-ones and three-in-one’s that we haven’t converted.
“For as much as we talk about improving defensively, one of those conversion goals would certainly help us create a comfort cushion, if you will.”
Every goal is monumental during this part of the schedule, when teams are gearing for the playoffs and referees tend to put away their whistles a bit, leading to fewer power plays.
“It changes momentum and can swing a game, especially in tight games,” Larkin said. “You can’t score one (goal) and win most nights. Power plays are hard to come by; goals, in general, are hard to come by. When you get good looks (offensively) you have to capitalize.”
After Wednesday’s day off, the Wings looked energized during a brisk and busy practice that McLellan felt was vital.
“Like every team, we haven’t had a lot of practice time,” McLellan said. “This is it from now to until whenever. This is really it. If you’re lucky enough to get into the playoffs, you get two or three days to prepare and you’re focusing on a single team. For us, to clean things up, we tried to pick three or four areas today, none of it special teams, everything was five-on-five for a good 50 minutes.
“You don’t often get that in March. I’m not sure, based on the schedule, travel and everything else, that we’ll get it again. We had to make it count.”
With only 14 games left and the Wings struggling to push upward in the standings, they realize their sense of urgency.
“I hope so,” Larkin said. “I hope there’s urgency in each guy. This break in the schedule, a few days, a day off yesterday and a couple of good practices, it’s a good mini-reset. We had a positive skate today and guys looked good; there was a lot of energy.
“It’s pretty much a sprint to the finish and we have to win games.”
Mixed bag
There was good and bad news Thursday on the injury front.
The Wings welcomed back defenseman Jeff Petry (upper-body) to a full-scale practice. Petry hasn’t played since Jan. 2 and underwent an undisclosed surgery that has kept him out of the lineup for over two months.
“This was his first true, real heavy, hard practice,” McLellan said. “He’s had a couple of light ones before. He’s getting close. Will he be available on this (three-game road) trip? He’ll make the trip. He won’t play (Saturday) in Vegas, and we’ll figure out what happens after that. We’ll see where he’s at. He’s getting close.”
Petry might be needed because defenseman Erik Gustafsson didn’t practice Thursday and may not be available anytime soon.
“Still being evaluated, we’ll call it day-to-day, but there’s potential for a longer-term injury,” McLellan said of Gustafsson’s situation.
The Wings were also without forward Elmer Soderblom on Thursday, after Soderblom was hurt late in Tuesday’s game in Washington. Michael Rasmussen took Soderblom’s spot on a line with Larkin and Lucas Raymond.
McLellan is calling Soderblom day-to-day at this point, but the Wings are likely to recall a forward from Grand Rapids for the three-game road trip.
The 6-foot-8 Soderblom has provided a unique element for the Wings, while providing a spark offensively (three goals, nine points in 22 games).
“We’re hoping he’s going to be all right,” Larkin said. “He’s a big part of our team. It says a lot about a young player who has had ups and downs in his career, and he’s come in and had a bigger impact than we all expected. He’s built confidence.”