"For me, I think in the league, the best offense comes from good defense, to be honest with you," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I think the biggest thing is you have to be fast out of your zone, you have to be fast in D-zone to make sure you're spending enough time. Then it comes down to winning battles.
"We'd like to create lots of chances without giving any rushes up. I don't think the answer is to start giving up lots of chances, we gave up way too many chances last night. I think the answer is to continue to limit chances but bear down a little bit more offensively."
Captain Henrik Zetterberg agreed that it's not a good idea to change the way they play in the neutral zone or in their own end.
"I think we just have to find ways, again, to get more pucks on net and that comes down to us forwards, it comes down to our defensemen, when we have the puck on our stick, instead of thinking pass, think shot," Zetterberg said. "It doesn't have to be a hard shot, just get it to the net. Get guys to the net, get some ugly goals and then eventually you will have time to make some plays and score some prettier goals."
The power play clearly needs to improve and that was a distinct focus at Friday's practice.
Since scoring two power-play goals against the Dallas Stars Nov. 29, the Wings have gone 1-for-24 with the man-advantage.
Blashill said they used a net presence and shot drill that they started doing last season, which helped spark the power play.
"I really think the power play, it comes down to winning more battles," Blashill said. "We're not set up enough and by that I mean, we spend 30 to 35 seconds just trying to relieve pressure. We're under siege the whole time in their end. We got to do a better job of winning those battles, using our relief options so that then we get the puck and get them on their heels a little bit. We're spending too much time on our heels. It's something we're working on and I believe we'll get better at."
Zetterberg said there are many Wings in the dressing room who have played on successful power plays.
"We have to get used to being in those situations, getting pucks to the net, different ways and different angles," Zetterberg said. "Eventually we will start scoring goals. Right now it doesn't go the way we want to and about the only thing you can do is work more and work harder and do the right things in practice and eventually we'll get results in games."
MRAZEK BACK: Petr Mrazek will make his first start since Dec. 9 against Columbus.
The time off from games has given him a chance to really focus on things in practice.
"We didn't work on anything different than the start of the season, just how I said, the stuff around the net and be strong on the posts and not too aggressive," Mrazek said.
Mrazek is currently 8-6-3 with a 2.92 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
"We're in a stretch right now where we're going to need both goalies to be good," Blashill said. "Jimmy (Howard) played last night, we need Mrazek to be good tomorrow night. We got a back to back coming up, they're both probably going to play and then we got one more game after that. We need both of them to be really good. For us to be the team where we want to be, they're both going to have to be elite."
Mrazek said he can't change the past so he's focused on the future.
"We have the next opportunity tomorrow, we're going to play hard and smarter and I'm sure we're going to get two points," Mrazek said.
VANEK'S STATUS: Thomas Vanek and Alexey Marchenko (shoulder) did not practice Friday.
Blashill said he expected Vanek to play but would know more on Saturday.
HOLIDAY MASKS: You might notice something different about the goaltenders Saturday night.
Both Mrazek and Howard have some special masks for the holiday season.
Mrazek's has a picture of Will Ferrell as Buddy from the 2003 movie "Elf."
