Jan. 27, 2011
DETROIT - If Darren Helm keeps this up, people are going to start thinking of him as more than a third-line, defensive-minded center.
Just 1:43 into Wednesday night's game against the New Jersey Devils, Helm intercepted Mark Fraser's pass and headed to the net. He sent the puck glove side, beating future Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur for the all-important first goal.
"It was great," Helm said. "I was able to read the play there with the pass across and I had a lot of time, found my spot and put it in."
The Wings went on to win, 3-1, reaching 66 points before the All-Star break, second in the Western Conference behind Vancouver. Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen had the other goals.
With his goal, Helm has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 49 games, which is just three points shy of the 24 he had last year in 75 games.
"Helmer's been good," coach Mike Babcock said. "He's been good for a while. That line has been real good. I think if I'm not mistaken, he has 21 points right now, which is a lot for him. But he's going in the right direction."
The Wings have been doing more than getting by despite the injuries they've had and some of that is due to Helm. He's seen his ice time go up by almost four minutes a game with forwards like Pavel Datsyuk, Danny Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom and Mike Modano out.
That added ice time has helped Helm find more of an offensive groove. Fourteen of his 21 points have come in the last 17 games.
"I think I'm just learning to find my step, not necessarily with speed but confidence, seeing the ice a little bit better than I have been," Helm said. "Getting a lot more ice time, a lot more opportunities and to get that as a player, it's a lot easier to get into the game, get focused and I think we did a pretty good job with our line, responding with that extra ice time."
Captain Nick Lidstrom said Helm's speed makes it tough on opposing defensemen.
"He's skating real well," Lidstrom said. "He's always skating well but when he's got the puck with that speed, he's hard to defend. Sometimes he'll chip the puck in ahead of him and skate into it. It makes it even harder to defend against him. He's got to use that speed to his advantage."
Of course, sometimes that speed can hurt a guy like Helm when he's breaking in alone on the goalie.
"That's the first breakaway goal I've had this year, I think," Helm said. "They're tough for me. I'm coming down with a lot of speed, it's hard to make up plays. (Wednesday) I was going a little bit slower than normal and was able to capitalize."
Helm just turned 24 on Jan. 21 so he's still got plenty of time to learn to harness that speed and apply more of a scoring touch, as he's done of late.
That doesn't mean Helm will forget his defensive responsibilities.
His speed comes in very handy when killing penalties. It also helped late in the game when the Wings were guarding a one-goal lead and had iced the puck a couple of times. Helm's speed enabled him to out-race the Devils, prevent a third icing call and keep the puck in the offensive zone.
"He's been playing really well," Filppula said. "Obviously, (Wednesday he had) really nice goal and had a lot of energy and a lot of jump. He's definitely a really important guy for us."
Once the injured players start coming back after the break, Helm might see his ice time go down. Then again, if he keeps adding to his offensive repertoire, maybe not.
Notes: Patrick Eaves, hit by Flint native Brian Rolston's stick in the third period, is expected to be fine. "He just got smacked in the mouth," Babcock said. "He's got four days to get better."
