Detroit Red Wings' Justin Abdelkader Well on His Way to Having Breakout Season

The Detroit Red Wings picked up their fifth win of the season during a 4-2 decision over the Washington Capitals on NBCSN's "Wednesday Night Rivalry" game, and a trend continued in the process.

During the team's win, Justin Abdelkader—a 6'2", 218-pound American with a Scandinavian-sounding name— picked up two goals and an assist.

A three-point night is not uncommon in the NHL—nor is a two-goal night for that matter—but it meant a great deal to Abdelkader. His second goal of the contest, the game-winning marker, was his fifth of the season.

In nine games played, Abdelkader has a total of five goals. His five goals put him a tie for first on the team with Gustav Nyquist, while his eight points are second only to captain Henrik Zetterberg.

For some perspective, it took Abdelkader 70 games to score 10 goals in 2013-14.

There are 82 games in the NHL's regular season and the Wings have played nine, so Abdelkader has tallied 50 percent of his goals scored from last year in only 10.98 percent of the games on the schedule.

At this rate, Abdelkader is on pace to finish the season with 46 goals, and while he is unlikely to tally that many, 20 goals are certainly within the realm of possibility. 

It is no surprise that Abdelkader is having a great season to date because both he and head coach Mike Babcock feel that he is a player with some untapped potential.

He spoke with Ansar Khan of MLive.com about this:

"

Hopefully I can build off last season. I think it shows I can put up points. I just scratched the surface. I think I can put up more goals in this league. I got a lot of chances last year. ...

I know I can be a guy that can be relied on the penalty kill and block shots and making the right plays and getting pucks out. Five on five, just playing the type of game I'm capable of, being hard around the net and in the corners. Be a guy that can skate and push the pace.

"

Abdelkader is certainly a player who has been relied upon for the Wings over the past few years in a defensive role, and he's been especially big on the penalty kill. The 27-year-old is able to have an impact because he has decent size, is a solid two-way player and is great at getting under people's skin.

He doesn't get under the skin of opponents in the same way that noted pests like Dan Carcillo do, but he draws out the frustration of players because he's a pain to play against.

He can use his speed to track down a puck, and depending on the situation, he can just hold on to it in perpetuity.

Dave Reginek/Getty Images

At other times, he will take the puck and let his wheels go to work, although Babcock thinks that sometimes his motor gets ahead of his brain.

"He's good, he's in shape, he competes. It doesn't matter where you play him, he plays great," he told Khan. "But he's got to learn to slow down in the scoring areas. He's got more time than he thinks. You don't have as much time as you want, but you got more time than you think."

OK, that last quote sounded like a Yogi Berra-ism, so here's what Babcock most likely meant. NHL hockey is a fast game, and he who hesitates is lost or bruised after being knocked down to the ice.

Players need to be decisive, but they shouldn't rush things.

In Abdelkader's case, he often has enough time and space, but he will rush from time to time, even though he can stand to keep hold of the puck for an extra second or two. One thing that has been noticeably different this year has been Abdelkader's confidence and decisiveness.

Part of that is because he is skating in a top-six role and pucks are going into the net. When you are getting quality minutes and your efforts are being validated in the box score, it is easy to maintain a rhythm.

Against the Capitals, Abdelkader was aggressive, decisive and efficient. His first goal came after Andre Burakovsky failed to move the puck, and it was eventually taken from Brooks Orpik.

In many ways, his goal against the Caps was similar to his game-winning goal scored in overtime vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins:

In both cases, Abdelkader used his speed to be aggressive. An active stick enabled him to take control of the puck and he fired it in a swift motion.

This just speaks to the level of urgency Abdelkader is playing with so far, and it is a great sign. This is not to knock his compete level in the past, but he's obviously taken it to a higher level so far this season.

For his second goal vs. the Caps, the Red Wings followed a similar script. This time, Zetterberg was the picker, Pavel Datsyuk was the distraction and Abdelkader was the shooter:

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

It was easily his best game of the season to date, and he was named the first star of the game. It is very early, nine games in to be precise, but Abdelkader has been a nice surprise for the Red Wings.

With him starting to shoulder some of the load offensively, pressure is taken off players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, which will instill more confidence in the team.

Obviously, the Red Wings are at their best when everyone is healthy, but early on in 2014-15, Abdelkader is showing that he can be counted on as one of the Red Wings' top offensive options. This will ultimately make the Wings a deeper team, especially if Abdelkader maintains this pace.

Stats via NHL.com.