SAN JOSE, Calif. -- After thriving in the 2009 playoffs, Detroit Red Wings forward Dan Cleary did not expect to seek his first point of the 2010 postseason at the start of the second round.

But while trying to regain his scoring touch, Cleary remained focused on not letting other aspects of his game slip during the Western Conference semifinal playoff series against the San Jose Sharks.

"You always want to contribute at both ends," Cleary said Thursday before Game 1 at HP Pavilion. "We were able to get out of the first round with not a lot of secondary scoring, so that was a positive. Just stay positive and make sure you're doing other things well."

Cleary's patience was rewarded Thursday, when he scored his first goal of the playoffs. He also provided a good screen on Johan Franzen's goal.

but they were encouraged to get some scoring from forwards other than stars Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

"I thought Cleary was excellent tonight. I probably should have played him more and maybe the Mule (Franzen), too," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "You need everyone at playoff time to be successful."

Cleary had nine goals, six assists and a league-best plus-17 rating in last year's postseason.

"We'd like him to score for us. He'd like to score for us," Babcock said. "But in the meantime, be real good defensively and be as physical as you can and keep going to the net and it'll bounce in off you eventually."

That means play with more grit.

"Two things we're looking for: We need him to be physical and we need him to get to the net and tip some in," Babcock said. "The great thing about the playoffs, sometimes you don't have the best first round, but at the end, if you go a ways, your teammates pick you up and you have a chance to do what you want."

Babcock has switched Cleary and Tomas Holmstrom between the first and fourth lines, depending on game situations. It's not a difficult adjustment, Cleary said.

"It's actually real easy," Cleary said. "On both lines I know what I have to do. My role doesn't change."

He must get to the net.

"That was a key (in the last round) against (Phoenix goaltender Ilya) Bryzgalov, to get traffic and force him to make saves that he wasn't used to making. Even more important now against a good San Jose team. (Evgeni) Nabokov is a good goalie, so you definitely got to shoot the puck, look for rebounds."

Helminen faces former favorite team

Sharks forward and University of Michigan product Dwight Helminen was looking forward to his first game against the Red Wings, the team he cheered for growing up in Brighton.

Helminen was born in Houghton, where most of his family still resides and, usually, roots for the Red Wings.

"My immediate family all claim they're cheering for the Sharks, but my sister informed me that a couple of her friends weren't," Helminen said. "They actually live in a house I own, so I'm going to have to adjust the rent."

Helminen was a big fan of Steve Yzerman and Sergei Fedorov, but he can identify more with Kris Draper.

"He's always been one of the Wings' go-to penalty killers," Helminen said. "When I was in school, that was kind of my role, so I used to watch Draper, tried to emulate some of the stuff he does, especially on the penalty kill."