Jimmy-Howard

Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard makes a save on Ottawa's Kyle Turris.

(The Associated Press)

OTTAWA - If the Detroit Red Wings are to continue their recent success in Ottawa tonight they need to play with more urgency from the drop of the puck.

"Just score; so when you get your opportunities bear down and hit the net," coach Mike Babcock said after the morning skate at the Canadian Tire Centre. "The other thing is the urgency you have at the end of the game has to be the same you have at the start of the game."

That urgency was lacking in Sunday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres. The Red Wings didn't get jump-started until midway through the second period and ended up outshooting the Sabres 38-21.

"We didn't play poorly, we created lots of scoring opportunities but didn't find a way to finish," Babcock said. "We got to find a way to finish."

The Red Wings (6-2-3) have won four in a row in Ottawa (5-3-2), thanks mainly to Johan Franzen's exploits. He has 11 goals in those games, including a hat trick in their most recent game in this building on Feb. 27.

But this is only Franzen's second game back after missing two weeks with a pulled groin. Senators coach Paul MacLean, the former Red Wings assistant, is more focused on containing the top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Justin Abdelkader.

"You want to make sure you give enough respect to Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg," MacLean said. They're world-class players. We have to make sure we're aware of them when they're on the ice, much like when we play anyone else that has those types of players.

"They have the ability to make something out of nothing and disappear on the ice and all the sudden show up in the right spot and the puck's going to be there. We have to make sure we're aware when they're out there, but at the same time not give them all kinds of time and space. You have to shorten the rink on them and try to make them play in tight places."

Babcock called the Senators a hard-working team.

"They had a real good year couple years ago, their goaltending was strong," Babcock said. "Last year, for whatever reason, it didn't go quite as good, and then this year they got by committee a real good group.

"They got a star in (defenseman Erik) Karlsson, and absolute star, and they got a bunch of guys that are getting better.

"They got a real good pro in (David) Legwand; you know what he did for our team, he came (late last season) and got us in the playoffs. So you put him in a spot of leadership to talk to young guys and help the coach along. Real positive for Legwand, real positive for Mac to have a guy like that. Leggy is a guy you can talk to, so he makes a difference."

Here are the Red Wings lines and defense pairs:

Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Justin Abdelkader

Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Gustav Nyquist

Johan Franzen-Darren Helm-Tomas Jurco

Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Joakim Andersson

Andrej Nestrasil and Daniel Cleary are healthy scratches.

On defense:

Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson

Danny DeKeyser-Brendan Smith

Brian Lashoff-Jakub Kindl

Kyle Quincey skated for the second day in a row but his ankle will keep him out, likely through Wednesday's game at the New York Rangers as well.

Jimmy Howard (starting tonight)

Jonas Gustavsson (starting Wednesday)

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