DETROIT -- The Red Wings might have had a little trouble with power outages at Joe Louis Arena lately but there's no trouble with their power play.
Wings coach Mike Babcock has often said that when players are scoring on the power play, that confidence spills over into the rest of their game.
That's been the case for the Wings in the last five weeks or so.
After a lackluster start to the season with the man-advantage when they had two power-play goals in their first 30 chances, the Wings are now tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the league lead with 24 power-play goals.
The Wings (15-6-5) had another one in their 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars (9-12-5) Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
"It's huge for us," said defenseman Kyle Quincey, who was plus-4. "When they're going and our D and penalty kill are going, we're pretty good at letting three goals in or less per game, so if we can get a few on the power play and one or two even strength we're going to win most nights.
"That's been a key for us for a lot of years. If our power play is going it makes them respect us 5-on-5 and gives us a lot more room."
Detroit's power-play goal Thursday came from Pavel Datsyuk, giving the Wings a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.
Four of Datsyuk's 11 goals have come on the power play this season.
There's no question that one reason the power play has been better has been the return of both Datsyuk and Stephen Weiss, who had a goal and two assists Thursday.
Although none of Weiss' four goals have come on the power play, he's given the Wings an additional scorer when they do have the man-advantage.
"It's huge," defenseman Danny DeKeyser said. "It gives us that much more depth, a guy who can score, who can put the puck on the net, play the power play. He just grinds and plays a really solid game."
Darren Helm had two goals, one right after the power play had expired and before Dallas defenseman John Klingberg could back in position.
Helm actually held the puck and waited for goaltender Jussi Rynnas to commit before making his move.
"Sometimes when you have a little bit too much time for a guy like me it doesn't work out well," Helm said. "But I was able to make a move and find the back of the net."
The Wings had trouble scoring at the start of the season and not just on the power play.
Now that the power play is clicking and the offensive players have gained confidence, the offense in general is better.
The Wings have 82 goals in 26 games, tied with the New York Islanders and Penguins.
Only the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs have more goals at 97 and 84, respectively, in the Eastern Conference.
In the Western Conference, only the Calgary Flames have more goals with 83. The Vancouver Canucks also have 82.
"Huge for us to get a good balance of scoring up and down the lineup," Weiss said. "It's a positive. I said a minute ago that 30 teams would love to take that and that's why that was huge for us (Thursday night). The power play got another one and just all four lines were good."
Although the Wings have not been quite as good defensively as they were at the beginning of the season, they still have a plus-15 goal differential, good enough for third in the East.
"I like scoring more than the other team and I like when the other team has less than two," Babcock said.
Helm said there's another reason for the increase in offense.
"I think for the most part everybody is healthy," Helm said. "First time in a long time we can say that. We got guys clicking together.
"We've got good chemistry out there and I think we're confident."
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