KEARNS, Utah — Practice, at least, offered something different as the Detroit Red Wings made their first foray to Salt Lake City since the scenic capital gained an NHL franchise.
The real trick, of course, will be for the Wings to finish their next game with a different result; namely a victory. They've only done that twice in their last 11 games, and that's left them stalled at 70 points, five points and four teams behind the second wild card.
Their next chance to make inroads comes Monday when they take on the Utah Hockey Club – formerly the Arizona Coyotes franchise – and preparation for that took place Sunday at the 275,000-square-foot Utah Olympic Oval, the long-track speed skating venue for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics and an official U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Site.
"It’s fun," Lucas Raymond said. "A lot of history in a place like this. Just driving in, seeing the mountains and all that, it's pretty cool. My first time in Utah, so, it's good."
The Wings (32-31-6) expect to regain the services of defenseman Jeff Petry. Forward Elmer Söderblom practiced Sunday, but needed to be re-evaluated before any decision was made on his readiness.
Whatever the lineup looks like Monday at Delta Center, the message is uniform: It's up to the Wings to show they want to make the playoffs.
"We can talk about this all we want, and it’s great and we care and everybody wants to be there," coach Todd McLellan said. "And there’s 32 teams that talk about it. Only 16 teams make it. And those 16 find ways to win games. We haven’t been doing that lately. So enough talking about it. Let’s do it.
"It’s not the fancy stuff. It’s not always the power play. It’s some of the grunt stuff that it’s hard to calculate its impact on the game until you start doing it over and over and over again. We talked about shot-blocking and net-play and board-work and shift-length. When you pull up the NHL website or even analytics, there’s not a lot of scores or grades for that stuff. But it all leads to wins and losses and enough talking about it – let’s do it."
That message was a continuation of McLellan's comments after the Wings began this trip (which ends Tuesday at the Colorado Avalanche) losing 6-3 at the Vegas Golden Knights. The Wings started well, generated scoring chances and scored twice on man advantages, so to still come away with nothing was deflating.
"We have to get back to our game," Raymond said. "We have talked a lot for a long period of time of where we want to be, and it’s time for us to show up and take that step. It’s fun, right – it’s exciting times. We’re still in it. We have to get back to our game and start playing with a little more desperation and urgency."
It was around this time last season that Raymond put together an impressive stretch, leading the team with 12 points the last 10 games. It's the time of year that tends to show what players are made off.
"We’re all keeping an eye on each other, and I don’t mean that from a manager or coach’s perspective," McLellan said. "Teammates are looking at teammates – what are you going to give me tonight – which I think is really valuable. We need more from you – that type of thing goes on. But then that secondary level of coaches and managers watching at this time of year is really important as well."
Practice, at least, seemed upbeat, and McLellan called it, "a good day for us. We needed to skate today. Wasn’t an over-exertion skate. We know what’s ahead of us, these two games, and then four games in six nights. But enough to get the crap out of your legs and feel good about yourselves again. Coming off right now, I feel good about our opportunity tomorrow."
The rink the Wings practiced on sits like an island in the middle of the speed-skating oval, which is billed as the “Fastest Ice on Earth.” Defenseman Ben Chiarot took a turn before practice.
"Felt like ice," he said. "It was just cool to check it out."
Raymond declined.
"It looks exhausting," he said. "But it’s a cool track and cool venue."
