DETROIT – Home-ice advantage in the playoffs was always nice, but not always vital, for the Detroit Red Wings, who have had a lot of success on the road for two decades.

It's different this season. The disparity between their performance at Joe Louis Arena (30-5-2) and on the road (16-21-3) puts a greater premium on finishing fourth in the Western Conference to secure home ice in the first round.

The Red Wings can take a big step toward locking up that fourth seed when they host the Nashville Predators Friday in a possible first-round playoff preview. Detroit is one point ahead of Nashville. Each team has five games remaining.

“There's a big chance that whoever wins (Friday) is going to have home ice, and we all know what's at stake,'' Detroit center Henrik Zetterberg said. “It's going to be like a playoff game. And we're probably going to play them the first round. A lot of factors come into play.''

Home-ice advantage guarantees nothing, even for the Red Wings, who fashioned an NHL-record 23-game home winning streak this season. But if you can get it, why not grab it?

“We want home ice. There's no question about it,'' defenseman Brad Stuart said. “That's not our only motivation, but it's a big thing for us.''

The Red Wings are trying to rebound from Wednesday's dreadful 4-2 loss at Columbus and build some momentum heading into the playoffs, after going 5-9-3 since Feb. 21.

They have almost all of their injured players back, and might get another on Friday, as goaltender Jimmy Howard (strained groin) will be in uniform. Coach Mike Babcock, who planned on starting Ty Conklin, said he might reconsider.

Whoever is in goal will be facing a Nashville team that is more dynamic offensively after acquiring Andrei Kostitsyn from Montreal prior to the trade deadline and welcoming back talented forward Alexander Radulov on March 22, after three seasons in Russia.

“He's skilled, and from what I remember, can shoot the puck,'' Stuart said. “He just adds another weapon for them and someone else we have to be aware of on the ice. It's been a while since we played against him, so it's tough to have a real good read on him.''

Nashville also added 6-foot-7 defenseman Hal Gill and 6-5 checking-line center Paul Gaustad. The Red Wings already were aware of how difficult it is to play against the star defensive duo of Shea Weber and Ryan Suter and how hard it can be to score against 6-5 goaltender Pekka Rinne.

“They’ve always been very structured, but now it feels like they have even more fire-power up front,'' Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “They’ve added some big pieces, and they’re a tough team to go up against, especially when they have Rinne, who can win games on his own.”

The Predators are bigger, but not necessarily more physical than they were before.

“I don't know if they've been playing that physical against us,'' Zetterberg said. “I think there's other teams that are more physical than Nashville.

“But if you're going to keep playing them in the playoffs that's usually where the rivalries come. I don't think it's a rivalry yet, but it might be.''

Only once in the past 19 seasons have the Red Wings not had home-ice advantage in the first round (2010 vs. Phoenix; Detroit won in seven games). Babcock downplayed its importance.

“That, to me, isn't as big a deal as how you're playing,'' Babcock said. “Would I like us to start in Detroit? Absolutely. But Nashville's a fun town, too. (Home ice) is not an issue for me.''

Even considering his team's road record?

“I just think the playoffs are a different thing, totally,'' Babcock said. “When I look at the records in the Western Conference on the road, Vancouver has a real good record (24-11-5), the rest of us are not great.''