Red Wings practice in Seattle on Friday afternoon, prepare for Western Conference stretch of season-long six-game road trip

SEATTLE -- Getting their legs moving following Thursday night’s flight from Columbus to Seattle, the Detroit Red Wings practiced at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday afternoon as they look to carry over the positives from their most recent game against the Blue Jackets.

“It’s a long road trip and it was a long flight last night,” Albert Johansson said. “So, it was nice to get out there, move a little bit and get ready for tomorrow.”

Following Saturday’s game against the Seattle Kraken (11-8-6; 28 points), the Red Wings will battle the Vancouver Canucks (10-14-3; 23 points) on Monday, Calgary Flames (10-15-4; 24 points) on Wednesday, two-time defending Western-Conference champion Edmonton Oilers (12-11-5; 29 points) on Thursday before finishing their trek against the Chicago Blackhawks (12-9-6; 30 points) next Saturday.

As someone who has served NHL coaching roles with clubs in both conferences, Detroit head coach Todd McLellan believes the playstyles of the East and West aren’t as distinct as they might have been in the past.

“Some of the younger superstars are in the West right now,” McLellan said. “You think of [Connor] Bedard and [Macklin] Celebrini. Connor [McDavid] and Leon [Draisaitl], I wouldn’t consider them young, but they’re mid-range. A lot of superstar, up-and-coming power is out here. The teams don’t play a significantly different brand of hockey. I think it’s fairly universal now.”

As for the Red Wings, they’re striving to play a more consistent brand of hockey.

“We’re still a team that is evolving, growing and learning,” McLellan said. “We’re not a finished product, and we didn’t expect to be at almost game 30. We’ve got some youth in the lineup that has to continue to experience things and make mistakes. We’ll help them fix it. We’ve got some veterans that we’re pushing to get a little bit more out of. So, our team, our complete and overall game, has to improve both offensively and defensively.”

It’s a process that McLellan and his coaching staff emphasize to the group every day.

“There’s concepts that we’ve put in play, and they’ve been good, but then they slip a little,” McLellan said. “We’re still trying to aggressively push our defensive responsibilities, and that’s not always just in our zone. That happens up ice, through the neutral zone and then when we’re coming into our zone, it’s important – the decisions we make in those areas – and then once we’re in our O-zone. So, all those concepts are important. We put them in place in Training Camp. We’re learning on the fly, trying to correct on the fly and we need to get better on the fly.”

For example, Johansson said Detroit knows it can be better defensively during 5-on-6 situations late in games.

“You try to put pressure on their guys when we see they’re in a little bit of trouble,” Johansson said. “That’s a good time to pressure them even more, then everything comes down to the play around the net. We want to own our net front, and I think we can do a better job there.”

The fact that his players are very “alert and conscious” of what areas they need to improve upon pleases McLellan.

“I believe the players are talking about it more,” McLellan said. “They’re more aware of it and beginning to hold each other accountable with it. They want to repair it. That’s a real good first step.”