Big Red Machine Turns a Corner: Detroit Red Wings Recover Winning Ways

In the immortal words of LL Cool J, "Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years."

Despite the fact that the Detroit Red Wings that began the 2009-10 season looked shockingly different than the team that made back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals the past two seasons, there was no denying that team was always there.

True, they saw a lot of goals skate away in the summer.  And yes, they've played a ridiculous amount of hockey the past two seasons.

But a reduction in offensive potential and lingering fatigue, obstacles though they are, are proving less daunting for a team that is starting to realize winning was always up to them.

Don't call it a comeback.

The past three games (wins over Calgary, Boston and San Jose), have demonstrated that the team who virtually patented the "puck-possession game" is still alive and well in Detroit and capable of executing that game to perfection.

While a three-game winning streak is nothing to sneeze at, the way in which the Red Wings have put this string of wins together (the longest so far this season) is definitely something to get excited about.

Despite missing two major pieces (forwards Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula), Detroit's Big Red Machine is starting to operate with powerful efficiency.

Playing as a five-man unit is something the Red Wings have seldom done through the first 10 games of the season.

Their play often looked, scattered, sloppy, with too many guys trying to do too much all at once.

Not the type of hockey Detroit is known for playing.

However, the past three games have seen the Red Wings executing as a single entity sharing a brain, and, not surprisingly, they're winning.

This is the kind of hockey Detroit knew they would have to play in order to have any success this year.

With top-flight sniper, Marian Hossa, gone to Chicago and reliable secondary scorers Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler also gone from the roster, pouring goals into the opposition's net is no longer Plan A when it comes to winning games.

But, the core of the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2008 remains the core today; a group that utilized strong team play and puck possession as their primary tools for winning hockey games.

This team didn't go anywhere.

It didn't relocate to Chicago, Vancouver, or the KHL.

It remains in Detroit and has a cluster of solid victories to provide evidence of this fact.

While the execution of the "team game" will continue to be vital to their success, there is no doubt that there are certain players that definitely need to lead the charge if the team is to continue their recent relapse into habitual winning.

Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg remain the team's most important players and have been playing like it of late.

Datsyuk started the season ice-cold and was sidelined with an upper-body injury for two games.  However, he now has eight points in his last five games and is once again starting to undress more hockey players than Elisha Cuthbert.

Henrik Zetterberg has 13 points in as many games and continues to be Detroit's most stable and reliable weapon in all three zones.

The man they call 'Z' played a huge role in Detroit's win over San Jose Thursday night, as Zetterberg provided both the game-tying goal and the shoot-out winner.

But, for any team, the goaltender is always the player you need performing at his best if you have designs on winning and Detroit's Chris Osgood has been outstanding his past three outings.

Osgood has a .976 SV% and a 0.67 GAA during this three-game winning streak.

While these numbers aren't likely to be sustained for too long, they prove that Osgood is still capable of giving his team a chance to win on a nightly basis.

With Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Osgood finding their games and a top-four defense of Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Nicklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart beginning to, once again, resemble one of the best in the league, the Detroit Red Wings appear ready to put their uncharacteristically bad start behind them.

That last bit is important to remember.

Losing games is out of character for this team, one still packed with winners.

Winning, as they've done lately, is what they usually do.

Don't call it a comeback.