Notes: Inclement weather alters Red Wings' travel plans

OTTAWA/JERSEY CITY -- When Mother Nature speaks, mankind listens.
Due to a nor'easter mixture of snow, freezing rain, ice and wind on the east coast, the Red Wings were forced to spend an extra night in Ottawa instead of immediately traveling to New Jersey after Thursday night's 2-1 loss to the Senators.

So on Friday morning, the Wings gathered at the Canadian Tire Centre to participate in either an off-ice workout or an on-ice practice. Most players elected to skate.
Once they finished practice, the Wings' long and winding path to the Garden State began with a flight to Albany to clear customs, followed by a quick plane ride to White Plains to catch a bus, which chauffeured the team to its Jersey digs.
Except for the logistical problems for Detroit's equipment and PR staff, the mood was generally upbeat as the Red Wings rolled with the punches during their unplanned excursion.
"This is part of when you travel lots, you're going to have some weather issues. We had a weather issue last night, we had a real unknown of what time we'd be able to get into the gate," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "So, it sounded like it was going to be 4ish in the morning and that doesn't do well with sleep, so we just decided to stay, which creates its own issues today with getting in.
"But we'll be fine, we'll find a way to get in and we'll get in for dinner time and eat dinner and be ready to go tomorrow."
Niklas Kronwall echoed his coach telling reporters it really is out of everyone's hands when weather is introduced into the travel equation.
"Just figure out a way to get there. It is what it is. It's probably just going to happen once in your career so let's enjoy it," Kronwall said.
When asked if he had ever been through any kind of travel disruption during hiscareer, Kronwall paused.
"I think there was once in St. Louis actually when our plane, something happened to the plane that we had to spend the night. It took a little quick turn there (the plane skidded off the runway)," Kronwall recalled. "But other than that, no, not really. Everything's been working fairly smooth up to this point.
"The weather, you can't really do anything about it. We'll take care of what we can take care of and focus on the game tomorrow."

The Red Wings arrived in New Jersey in the early evening and except for a road-weary look among some of the players and staff, the common thread was a collective sigh of, "we're where we're supposed to be, finally!"
If there is any drawback to arriving 18 or so hours later than anticipated, it's that the Wings have a 1 p.m. face-off with the Devils on Saturday, but again, there isn't much anyone can do about it.
"In a perfect world, obviously we would have liked to have the morning skate," Kronwall said. "You don't always dictate those things. We'll make the most of it and we'll be ready to go once the game gets going."
Blashill was adamant the Wings' travel snafu will not have any bearing on the outcome of Saturday afternoon's clash with the Devils.
"All I care about is that that plane takes off and that plane lands on the ground and that we're ready to play a hockey game," Blashill said before the Wings began their long day's journey into night. "This will not have one impact on playing good hockey tomorrow whatsoever. It's bothersome, that's it, that you got to kind of grind through a day of travel.
"People do this all the time. It will not in any way negate us from playing great hockey tomorrow."

DEVILS WILL BE READY:On Nov. 1, the Red Wings beat the Devils, 4-3, at Little Caesars Arena. New Jersey took a 2-1 lead in the third, but the Wings stormed back with three consecutive goals to build a two-goal lead, 4-2.
With four seconds left the Devils scored a power-play goal, but the final score was not indicative of how the Red Wings controlled the game.
"They've been a little up and down, I think, since we played them. They're playing at home, they'll try to get a good start and get the crowd behind them," Kronwall said. "Hopefully we can do the exact opposite of that, take the crowd out of the game by getting the pucks deep and getting the forecheck going and staying on top of them instead of the other way around."
Blashill knows the Devils will come out with a lot of jump.
"I think if you ask the guys in Jersey, they didn't have their best game in our building. I think they felt like they weren't skating that game," Blashill said. "I know enough guys on that team, that was kind of the feeling from them. I thought we played very good. I'm expecting we're going to get what Jersey is at their best and that's when they're hounding the puck hard with their forward pressure, they're on top of you, so we're going to have to go in and be ready to play a real good hockey game."
One key for the Red Wings is capitalizing on their scoring chances, especially with the man-advantage.
"You can't waste away power-play opportunities. If you execute and you don't score, that's life. But when you have careless mistakes on it where you're giving the puck away, that's unacceptable," Blashill said. "We got to be way better in that area, we have to have that urgency when we get on the power play.
"We'd like to take less penalties. We got out of our end pretty good last night (versus Ottawa), we spent as few minutes in our end as I think we have in a while. So that's a positive. We just got to find a way, again we're in another one-goal game, we got to find a way to execute and score a little bit more."
ROOKIE DINNER IS ABOUT BONDING:Originally, the Red Wings were going to fly back to Detroit right after Saturday afternoon's game with the Devils.
But since the Wings don't play again until Wednesday night when they host the Boston Bruins, the team decided to stay an extra night in New Jersey and have their annual rookie dinner in the Big Apple.
In the past, NHL rookie dinners has been extravagant evenings with rookies shelling out a pretty penny to cover the lavish tastes of their veteran teammates.
"I think those days are somewhat over," Kronwall said. "I think that used to be the case back in the days with expensive bottles of wine and steak knives (players ordering a set of steak knives) and whatever it was.
"Nowadays I think it's a little bit different where you just get together and enjoy a great meal. But it won't be something extraordinary.
"The last few years we haven't had a chance to do a real dinner after (a game). It's always been burgers or pizza on the bus, something on the way somewhere. That way you just kind of jam it in after one of the games.
"This way you really get to take full advantage of a good dinner and you just bond even more like that. So, I think it's good for the group. It's early in the season and I think it's the right time to do it."