Red Wings Ready For Road Trip; Howard Hoping To Be Back Feb. 11
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Collectively, the Detroit Red Wings have experienced far fewer injuries this season than last season. That good fortune has not extended to the goaltenders, as both Jimmy Howard and Jonas Gustavsson have missed numerous games.
Howard said Tuesday, however, that he plans to return Feb. 11 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
That road game will be one of nine the Red Wings play in February. Only twice this month will the team play at Joe Louis Arena. However taxing, Detroit's upcoming trip will have an element of fun because each player can bring along a dad or mentor.
"It's a great trip for the guys," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "The dads love it. It's a great opportunity to perform in front of your dad and to be around your dad and to give your dad thanks. To me, all these opportunities in your life is because your parents helped you out along the way, or else you'd never be here.
"I always prayed that I'd have the kind of relationship with my son that I did with my dad, and I do now," Babcock continued. "It's a fantastic thing, and so when I think of this, I think of an opportunity to go watch my kid play. I get goosebumps when I watch my kids play sports, so I can't imagine it being any different for them."
Babcock said he will not be bringing anyone on the trip this year because his dad is not healthy enough to come along. However, he does have a friend who will come to the dads dinner in Phoenix. The coach said that the dads and mentors have free reign when they travel with the team.
"They do whatever," Babcock said. "It doesn't matter to me. Most important thing is a few beers with the coach right when you get off the bus just so I can get all the gossip on all the guys," Babcock said, then broke into a grin. "I'll never forget it, first time we had a dads trip, standing in the lobby and Stevie Yzerman's dad's standing next to me, he's standing over there watching. He's just wondering what his dad would be telling me. You know they just get a little nervous when their dads are hanging out with the coach, so that should be fun."
The coach agreed that the event serves as a welcome break amid the long grind of the season.
"All these kind of things are great," Babcock said. "We talked about the Winter Classic last year, next year's outdoor game, All-Star break, we actually just gave them two days here. There's lots of things, ways to break it up, and we try to do enough to make sure that happens."
The upcoming stretch, perhaps daunting on paper, does not concern Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall.
"It's always a bit of a challenge, especially when you have that many on the road, but at the same time, I think we feel pretty confident in here with what we've been able to accomplish so far this season," Kronwall said. "We know we can play good on the road as well, and we've just got to keep playing the same way, really.
"It's what it is," Kronwall added. "We were home all of December and we'll be home all of March, pretty much. We've got to take advantage of this. It's a great time to get together with the team, a little bit more team bonding type deal, just enjoy it."
Center Joakim Andersson agreed that the time away allows the team to build more chemistry. As far as how the team can grow on the ice, he said the team hopes to improve the penalty kill.
"Our penalty kill has to get back [on] track," Andersson said. "We have a lot of good penalty killers, and we know what to do. We've just got to get back to the stuff we did earlier in the year.
"I think we're getting better," Andersson added. "Sometimes you can't help the puck goes in; even if you do good stuff, they get bounces and stuff. We're going to get back to have a good kill here."
