Red Wings want to ‘establish being a hard team to play against at home,’ and next three games offer another early-season chance to do just that

DETROIT – Knowing some early-season momentum is there for the taking this week as another multi-game homestand awaits, the Detroit Red Wings were back practicing at BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena on Monday morning.

“We have to establish being a hard team to play against at home, and that starts tomorrow,” Nate Danielson said. “We have to make this somewhere that teams come in and know it’s going to be a tough game. This is a great chance to do that.”

Detroit (1-3-1; 3 points) is set to welcome the New Jersey Devils (2-3-0; 4 points) on Tuesday night, the Philadelphia Flyers (0-5-2; 2 points) on Thursday night and the San Jose Sharks (3-2-0; 6 points) on Saturday night. Of those three opponents, New Jersey will be the only one finishing up a back-to-back set, after dropping a 4-1 decision to the Ottawa Senators at Prudential Center on Monday night.

“They’re a speedy team,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said of the Devils. “A lot of skill, real good on transition entries. So, we’re going to have to be aware of that. The fact that they’re coming off a back-to-back should favor us, but as we saw in Montreal, you can do it and sometimes you do feel a little bit better, so can’t put a lot into that."

Nearly two weeks into this new season, like the other 31 clubs in the NHL, Detroit is still tinkering with its defensive pairs and line combinations. Injuries have factored into McLellan’s lineup decisions, and after Monday’s practice he shared that both Marco Kasper (upper body) and Mason Appleton (undisclosed) are “still a ways away” from returning.

An encouraging development on the Red Wings’ injury front was that J.T. Compher (undisclosed), who hasn’t played since Oct. 4, was back on the ice with his teammates — a group that didn’t include Justin Faulk and Lucas Raymond, as both took maintenance days and will suit up on Tuesday.

“He’s trending towards a return,” McLellan said of Compher. “I don’t know if it’s tomorrow, because I got to deal with the trainers and doctors likely later on today or tomorrow morning. So, not sure yet.”

In three of its first five games, Detroit has deployed a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen. The club did so most recently against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday night. 

“You can’t just park one guy on the end, go with your pairs and break them up every now and then,” McLellan said. “You have to keep everybody involved, so anytime you see us with seven, you’re going to see mixing and matching just to get people some minutes and get them in the game. But we’re also trying to find, when we do go six, that comfort zone with pairs. Finding one for (Moritz Seider), Albert (Johansson) has done a real good job there but maybe there could be somebody else that could go in there also. That’s what we’re looking for, and then let everybody else settle into their spots.”

Regardless of ins and outs within their lineup, the Red Wings know they must do a better job of taking advantage of home cooking.

“I think you need to get as many wins on home ice as possible,” Alex DeBrincat said. “Obviously, we haven’t done that so far. So, to start off tomorrow with a win would be huge and kind of build off that… We got to stick with the process and the wins will come.”