It's only been two games but the Detroit Red Wings' new penalty kill has been perfect so far this season, killing off all seven man-advantage situations.
"I think we've been more aggressive than we were last year," Luke Glendening said. "I think we had spurts last year when we did OK, but we had spurts when we played pretty poorly, too. Obviously we're only two games in and we have a long way to go, but the further you move along the more confidence you get and Coach (Tony) Granato has been great at bringing in new stuff, teaching us how he wants it done and to be aggressive."
Drew Miller said the penalty kill is something the Wings take a lot of pride in, so they've been working diligently to adjust to Granato's new system.
"The whole concept is pretty much the same, just a little different routes and responsibilities for certain guys," Miller said. "So it's not that much different but we've been doing the same thing for so many years that you've got to kind of train your brain again to just react and not think about it."
Jimmy Howard said even the goaltenders have changed a little bit.
"We're being very disciplined when we're in the penalty kill situation," Howard said. "We're being very efficient on getting pucks deep when we do, we're not turning them over, failing to get them out. We're bearing down on pucks and we've switched it up a little, allowing whether Monster or I to be out, be a little bit more aggressive on the penalty kill. You don't have to worry about the backside."
Ideally, of course, the Wings would prefer to stay out of the box as much as possible.
"We've talked a lot about keeping it under three penalties a game," Glendening said. "Before the season started, we looked at the penalty chart and we took a lot of penalties and penalty minutes and not really having any tough guys. They were just stick penalties that we can eliminate from our game. If we can control those things, obviously our PK is going to have to do some work, but the less we can do the better."
NO PAVEL STILL; NYQUIST ON TOP LINE
Although Pavel Datsyuk has been practicing with the team, he said after Tuesday's practice he's still not ready to go.
Datsyuk suffered a separated shoulder in the first preseason game on Sept. 22.
With two goals in two games, Gustav Nyquist will likely remain on the top line with Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
Nyquist originally started Saturday night's game on a line with Darren Helm and Andrej Nestrasil.
"I played with Helmer and Nesty for most of the first couple games, we switched it up against Anaheim late in the second or early third," Nyquist said. "I played with those guys a little bit last year and in the preseason as well. They're top players in this league so they're real good players that make plays. We'll build chemistry so it's fun."
Franzen has three assists in the first two games.
"He's a great player, big body that can shoot the puck and make plays as well," Nyquist said. "He's a smart player that thinks the game well. It's fun playing with him."
Babcock confirmed that Howard would start in goal Wednesday.
