Grosse Pointe Woods – When Henrik Zetterberg came into the NHL in 2002, Chicago was not the outstanding organization it is today.
From the 1997-98 season to 2007-08, the Blackhawks made the playoffs just once.
But the Blackhawks Jerseys of this era have won three of the past six Stanley Cups. And with 85 points, tied for second-most in the NHL going into Saturday’s games, Chicago seems poised to make another Cup run.
“First couple of years when I played there, it was really quiet,” Zetterberg said of the United Center, and he knows it’ll be anything but quiet Sunday when the Red Wings play there. “Not much was going on except our fans (cheering). Then it really took a quick turn.
“Their fans are really loud, and now it’s one of the loudest arenas in the league.”
The Blackhawks defeated the Red Wings 5-2 Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena and what was interesting about that game was the amount of Blackhawks fans at JLA.
A roster full of exciting stars and prolonged success definitely builds a fan base. And all of that gets maximized at the United Center, where the Blackhawks have one of the better home-ice advantages in the NHL.
Still, road teams enjoy the atmosphere, too.
“It’s a great, fun place to play,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “All of us look forward to going to fun places to play and this is certainly one of the more fun places to play in the league.”
What would make this trip to Chicago even more enjoyable for the Red Wings would be a victory. They need one with the Eastern Conference playoff race tightening around them and a busy and difficult schedule ahead.
Team defense has been a particular area of attention since Wednesday’s loss.
“I didn’t think the other night we were good enough defensively,” Blashill said. “You can’t give up that number of odd-man rushes. We tried to work on two areas. One was getting the puck out of our end and the other was to make sure we do a better job of not giving odd-number rushes.”
Zetterberg milestone
Wednesday’s game was No. 900 in Zetterberg’s career, a milestone he considers special in that he’s been able to do that all with one organization -- same as Pavel Datsyuk, who played in No. 900 earlier this season.
“Me and Pavel (Datsyuk) spent so much time together here in Detroit, and to be able to get those milestones close to each other, it means a lot for us,” Zetterberg said. “It’s a big thing for me to be able to do that with one club. Nine hundred goes fast. I’ve been playing with a lot of great players and it’s been a lot of fun.
“There probably won’t be 900 more, but hopefully I got few left in me.”
Valuable practice
The break in games this week enabled the Red Wings to have two consecutive full practices (off Thursday, practice Friday and Saturday) for the first time in a long time.
“It’s valuable,” Blashill said. “We’ve had a number of days off. Some of that is our choice, but given some of the travel, we felt it was the right thing to do.
“The structure leaves your game when you don’t get to practice. This gives us the chance to get that structure back in.”
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