Gustav-Nyquist-3-18-14

The Red Wings' Gustav Nyquist has been congratulated a lot lately for scoring a goal.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – Gustav Nyquist has always racked up more assists than goals at each level of his hockey career, preferring to be a facilitator rather than a finisher.

That changed midway through this season, and the Detroit Red Wings are benefiting because of it.

Nyquist has an NHL-leading 15 goals since Jan. 20. He leads the Red Wings with 20 goals in just 44 games, after spending the first month-and-a-half of the season with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Why the sudden surge? One simple reason is he’s shooting the puck more.

“He’s getting good opportunity, but the other thing he’s doing is shoot the puck; he’s got to continue to shoot the puck,” coach Mike Babcock said. “In the National League you score by shooting, not by passing. So he’s done a good job in that area.”

Nyquist is averaging 3.19 shots per game over his past 21 games. He averaged only 1.89 shots per game in his first 63 NHL games, when he scored nine goals.

“We’ve been talking about (shooting more) my whole year and the time I’ve been here, really,” Nyquist said. “I’ve always been more of a passing player. I’m trying to shoot the puck more. I’m getting great passes, too.”

Missing injured stars Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, the Red Wings have desperately needed Nyquist's production. He is determined to fire the puck whenever possible.

“That’s how you create chances, too, getting rebounds for goals,” Nyquist said. “All goals aren’t going to be pretty tic-tac-toe plays for an open net, you got to put the puck on net.

“A couple of my goals have gone off deflections from the other team’s skates. So you just got to keep putting it on net.”

After flourishing for many games on a line with Johan Franzen and Zetterberg before the Olympics, Nyquist recently was moved to the Kid Line, with Riley Sheahan and Tomas Tatar, replacing the injured Tomas Jurco.

Nyquist has four goals in the past three games heading into Saturday’s contest at Minnesota (2 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit).

“He’s doing everything right; the puck is bouncing for him and he’s skilled enough to put it in,” Tatar said. “He’s playing great. Sometimes the puck just finds you in the right spot and the right time. Gus is smart enough and he knows where to be; he’s really skilled, so he can finish.”

Daniel Alfredsson, Nyquist’s Swedish Olympic teammate, has witnessed tremendous growth in the talented 24-year-old winger.

“It’s a natural progression from what I’ve seen from camp and since coming up from Grand Rapids he’s been really good,” Alfredsson said. “He brings speed, brings work ethic. He’s a young guy who really is mature in terms of where to be on the ice in different situations and he’s been very impressive.”

Having the freedom to be creative also has helped Nyquist.

“I think coaching today is better and sometimes I think it’s too good for young kids,” Alfredsson said. “I think they should worry more about individual skills because they’ll be coached up enough as they get to older stages in their careers.

“But guys who are 20 or 22 and played pros for a few years here or in Europe, everybody is so well-coached it seems like the transition to the NHL isn’t a huge step. Not like it used to be.”