DK's three keys for Penguins vs. Red Wings

DETROIT -- Motor City, Rock City, Motown, Hockeytown, whatever one calls this iconic American center with all its many transformations, the one least welcome change around here is that hockey season now closes in early April.

Yeah, the Red Wings' epic streak of Stanley Cup playoff appearances that spanned a quarter-century from 1990-2016, is now trending the other way with this current edition stamping the second season in a row of sitting out. They're 27-38-11, they've lost 12 of their 13 games in March, and their lone victory in that span came in a shootout against Philadelphia goaltending, which candidly shouldn't count.

"Yeah, I think it shows you how hard it is to make the playoffs every year," Sidney Crosby was saying after the Penguins' optional skate here Tuesday. "They're a team that was able to do it for such a long time. It happens that you aren't able to get there sometimes, but what they were able to do in the years before that was amazing."

The Red Wings are no longer amazing, to put it mildly. Which should mean that the Penguins will carve up the ice with them tonight at 7:38 p.m. inside the new Little Caesars Arena, right?

Eh. Maybe not.

1. The Wings are swift, skilled and surprisingly deep.

Think of the Islanders. Then think of how the Islanders did their own ice-carving against the Penguins a couple weeks back in Brooklyn. Then picture this group in much the same spirit, meaning they're terrible defensively and just OK in the crease but miles better than both of those facets up front.

Yeah, the Red Wings have 19 total goals in their past 10 games -- and five of those against Philadelphia goaltending, mind you -- but I can go seven deep with genuinely impressive forwards, and that can't be said of probably half of the NHL's 31 teams: Gustav Nyquist, Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, Justin Abdelkader, Anthony Mantha, Frans Nielsen and the once-great-still-solid-at-37 Henrik Zetterberg would be welcome on almost anyone's top six.

I asked Mike Sullivan after the skate to compare the Red Wings and Islanders:

Larkin leads Detroit with 52 points, Mantha with 23 goals, but the one younger forward I've always liked best is Nyquist for his instinctive, authoritative finishing touch. He scored twice against the Penguins in the Red Wings' 4-1 victory here on New Year's Eve and, after scoring and setting up all of his team's output last night in a 4-2 loss at Montreal, he's at 20 goals for the season.

Here's his finish of a trademark sharp feed from Zetterberg last night:

OK, so the Canadiens are terrible defensively, too, and he had half the province of Quebec from which to shoot. I'm trying here.

Jeff Blashill, Detroit's coach, told reporters in Montreal after that game regarding Nyquist, "I think he's had a really excellent year. I think his work ethic and compete has been real, real consistent, one of the best on a nightly basis. I've told him time and time again, I'm real proud of the effort that he's had."

2. The Wings are terrible defensively.

Have I mentioned that yet?

Good, because it's true. Even without Mike Green, the worst defensive defenseman in the league who's done for the season to a neck injury, it's really true.

It doesn't show in their conventional stats -- they average 3.11 goals and 31.8 shots allowed per game, both middle of the pack -- but it does with all the open ice they leave. Blashill commendably lets his skaters skate, and that'll fly against some opponent. They'll dare you to try to keep up. They'll always choose to set the tone rather than slow it. And sometimes, it'll work, as it did against the Penguins three months ago. But most often, they'll get exposed, as their record shows.

In a weird way, this might represent a perfect challenge for the visitors in that their defensive shortcomings -- or unwillingness to address those, one might say -- were blown up all Sunday long by the similarly fast Flyers. After 37.5 shots per game allowed over the past four, there's a chance here to make a statement that they can do so much better when they want.

Or they can just skate like crazy. That's where my money's going.

3. Show up for the full work shift.

I know this is the most Captain Obvious point possible, but the Islanders were referenced for a reason. A team with no reason to play hard came out and played harder than the one with more theoretical motivation and tons more skill, and yet that New York team snowplowed the Penguins from front to finish.

Need motivation that exceeds the theoretical?

Here's some: The Penguins are three points ahead of both the Blue Jackets and Flyers for the second spot in the Metro and, thus, home ice in the first round. Not that champions should fear the road, but it's not like this group has exactly excelled away from PPG Paints Arena this winter -- 15-19-4 with some serious stinkers in there -- and it's not like they should covet having Games 1 and 2 in Columbus or Philadelphia.

Here's some more: The Penguins won't come close to another Cup with this shoddy penalty-killing of late.

I asked Carl Hagelin about that:

Never too soon to rev up the playoff motor.