Gustav Nyquist 3-4-15

Nearly half the points the Red Wings' Gustav Nyquist has tallied have come on the power play.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT - By using newly acquired forward Erik Cole in his top six, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock formed a third line with Riley Sheahan, Gustav Nyquist and Stephen Weiss.

It's been intact only one game, Wednesday's 2-1 overtime victory over the New York Rangers. The early review, however, was not glowing.

"They weren't very good," Babcock said. "Lots of us weren't very good, so we'll see what we're like in the next little bit, see if it's a line that can spend some time in the offensive zone. (On Wednesday) they spent way too much time in their own zone."

The lines likely will stay the same for Friday's game against the Calgary Flames at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, Fox Sports Detroit). So the third line with get another chance to impress Babcock.

"To score you got to play in the offensive zone, not your zone," Babcock said. "So (Wednesday) wasn't very good. We'll give it another try here (Friday) and obviously we all have to be a lot better than we were."

Babcock is pleased with his top line of Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Tatar and Darren Helm, the team's most productive combination in recent weeks. Helm is out another week or so with an oblique strain but should replace Tomas Jurco on the line when he returns.

Babcock also likes flanking Henrik Zetterberg with bigger bodies in Justin Abdelkader and Cole.

The third line is a work in progress. If they can provide a consistent offensive threat it would provide match-up problems for opponents in the playoffs.

"Whoever plays with Pavel and Hank get the tougher matchups for obvious reasons," Nyquist said. "That's what we're hoping; we can get a good matchup on that third line and create some offense."

Nyquist must be the offensive catalyst. He has 44 points (21 goals, 23 assists), but almost half have come on the power play (12 goals, nine assists).

"Nyquist is a real good player," Babcock said. "He's scored a lot this year on the power play, not as much even strength.

"For him to be at the highest point in his game he's got to be on pucks more, he's got to be more tenacious. The more retrieval races you win the more you have the puck, the more you're on offense, the more goals you're going to score. So it's pretty simple, if you don't have the puck you're not scoring. So that to me is a big part of getting to be as dominant as he can."

Nyquist likes his new line's potential.

"Sheahan is really good at both ends of the ice. He can make plays and is really strong on the puck," Nyquist said. "Weisser is a real skilled guy, can make little plays in real tight areas, has great hands.

"I thought we had some good chances, just couldn't bury it. Hopefully we'll get one and the line will start rolling a little bit."

-- Download the Detroit Red Wings on MLive app for iPhone and Android

-- Follow Ansar Khan and Brendan Savage on Twitter

-- Like MLive's Detroit Red Wings Facebook page