Notes: Nielsen excited to return to Nassau Coliseum

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- For Frans Nielsen, returning to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum brings back great memories of his time with the New York Islanders.
For his current Red Wings teammates and coaches, the memories are not quite as fond.

The Wings return to Nassau Coliseum, now known as NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum, on Saturday for the first time since March 29, 2015.
"I'm excited. I never thought I was going to play there again," Nielsen said after Thursday's practice in Detroit.
"So I'm not going to lie, I did look at the schedule when it came out to see if we were going to play at the Coliseum or not. I think it's definitely going to be different than playing there in Brooklyn."

Nielsen, was drafted by the Islanders and played the first 10 seasons of his career here.
"Going back there, it means a lot to me, that place," Nielsen said. "It's fun to go back. I think it's awesome that some of these young kids in here get to play a game there. It's very similar to the Joe. It's really loud. Now when they came back again, the fans are a little more excited there, I heard, and it's a playoff atmosphere every night they're playing there. So it's going to be a fun game. I'm looking forward to it."
Nielsen played in just 15 games during the 2006-07 season but scored his first goal on Feb. 24, 2007 at Nassau Coliseum against the Montreal Canadiens.
That first goal was the game-winner in a 3-2 victory.
"I was there for a long time," Nielsen recalled. "You scored your first goal in that building. There's a lot of firsts there. Your first playoff experience was in that building so you had a lot of great memories from there."
Nielsen made a comparison that all Red Wings fans would understand.
"The Joe was old, too, but it's special to everyone in here," he said. "I think it was just the same there, There is history, they won four Cups and you still see those guys. Not for us, but when you talk to fans around there, that place meant so much to those people in the heyday when they were winning. It was old and it is old. But it's just like the Joe. It's a pretty cool place. It can be loud. Those old buildings really get louder than the new ones sometimes."
For Niklas Kronwall, his Nassau Coliseum memories aren't quite as happy.
"I don't have a lot of good memories of this building, to be honest with you," Kronwall said after the team's optional morning skate. "We would usually, back in the day, we'd come here after we played on the west coast and get shelled pretty good. So no, not a lot of good memories. But I will say, it's an awesome hockey rink. A lot of the newer rinks are more event-based arenas, whereas this has always felt like a true, legit hockey rink, built for hockey and the atmosphere in this place is always off the charts."
Kronwall is no doubt recalling the game from Jan. 12, 2010, when the Islanders shut out the Wings, 6-0.
The team was coming off a four-game swing through Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.
Wings coach Jeff Blashill remembered that game as well.
"To be honest with you, I remember getting crushed in here when I was an assistant with (Mike Babcock), so that's the one I remember," Blashill said.
"The thing about buildingS like this is they're intimate, they're on top of you. There's a wall of people. It's not dissimilar to Joe Louis Arena. It's certainly very similar to Winnipeg, which is one of the loudest buildings in the league and one of the most intimidating. I think it's great. My understanding is the previous couple of crowds have been awesome. It's almost a playoff-type atmosphere. That's what you want to play in front of."
The Islanders will play 21 games this season at Nassau Coliseum, which has been renovated and now seats a league-low 13,917, compared to 16,234 before the renovations.
ISLANDERS AGAIN: It was just a week ago the Wings hosted the Islanders at Little Caesars Arena, a brawl-filled affair that culminated in a 3-2 Islanders victory.
Kronwall hit Islanders captain Anders Lee, which did not sit well with the New York crew.
Josh Bailey slew footed Kronwall, so Dylan Larkin fought him. Then Justin Abdelkader fought Johnny Boychuk.
\"Usually you just want to separate the guy from the puck and hopefully generate some momentum," Kronwall said. "I didn't think we took advantage really of it much. I don't know if we played very well, we were OK but not good enough. I think that's been the case lately in a few of the games where we've been OK but we need to be better."
The line of Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin made life difficult for the Wings, accounting for two of the three goals.
"They're a really good line," Blashill said. "When those three guys play together they seem to have good chemistry and they're real effective. They certainly took the game over last game. I don't know if there's anything specific you can do against that group. Like everybody else, the more they're on the offense the better they are. The more they got to defend the harder it is. We just worry about us playing our best hockey."
The Islanders have not played since Wednesday while the Wings are taking on the second game in their second set of back-to-back games this week.
"I'm not a big believer that back to backs are any inhibitor of success whatsoever," Blashill said. "I think the Capitals game there were a combination of a number of things, including 11 (defensemen) and seven (forwards). It wasn't just a back to back. It was a number of games. We've had a few days then in between. I think our energy level will be way better. We also played two defensemen (Mike Green, Jonathan Ericsson) that were playing hurt that night, so there were a lot of things that happened that night. It just didn't go our way. I don't think back to backs are at all an inhibitor of success.
"I think lots of times if the team is ready you can take advantage of the fact you're battle-tested. So let's come out ready to play."
The Islanders are currently fourth in the Metropolitan Division with 32 points in 30 games.
Although they lost star John Tavares to the Toronto Maple Leafs this past offseason, they gained a Stanley Cup-winning coach in Barry Trotz.
"I think anytime you play a team that's coached by Barry Trotz, you know you're going to face a very structured team," Kronwall said. "They're always going to be in the right spots and systematically, they'll do things the right way. That's one of the reasons why you really have to be on your game and play the same way and make sure that all the little details of the game, whether that's getting the puck out or getting it in deep and holding onto it, those have to be in sync."
The Islanders are ninth in the Eastern Conference but only six points behind fourth-place Boston.
"They're right there," Nielsen said. "I think they still got a lot of talent, a lot of guys that can put the puck in the net. It looks like they're getting some structure, they're not letting up too many goals. I haven't watched too many games with them but they're going to be fine and they're going to be right there until the end."
Blashill said everyone who played against the Ottawa Senators Friday in Detroit was available to play against the Islanders.