Notes: Wings got creative during delay in Carolina

TAMPA - Apparently the Red Wings got creative in their unusual abundance of spare time Monday night in Carolina.
While the players were waiting to see if the ice would improve enough so they could play the Hurricanes, they did what they could to keep themselves occupied.

"Actually it was pretty entertaining to see the games guys came up with," goaltender Jimmy Howard said. "They were pretty creative in the room. It's good to see."
Steve Ott said he spent a lot of time checking his phone to see if they were actually going to play. The game was finally postponed arounf 8:45 p.m.
"Feeling pretty hot, so probably would have had a goal and an assist, feeling pretty healthy," Ott said. "But no, honestly, we were just sitting around waiting. I think Glennie (Luke Glendening) made me a rose out of hockey tape. We were having a lot of fun but at the same time, trying to stay focused and see what was going on. You knew those conditions weren't safe, to be honest with you. God forbid if somebody was to go down in a situation like that, on either team, it just wouldn't be right."
It was the right thing to do to call the game, if only so the Wings had a plan of something to do.
"You can only play so much soccer and football and stay warm for the hours that we were there before all of us start acting like 16-year-olds again," Ott said. "It was one of those nights that I've never had in my career and I'm sure I'll never see again, probably for a lot of these guys as well."
Ott said he couldn't imagine how baseball players have to deal with rain delays on a regular basis, although he's heard stories about the things they do in the clubhouse to pass the time.
It's just completely uncommon in hockey to have it happen.
Hurricanes president Don Waddell said they'd never had a problem with their big chiller before.
"That circumstance is like a one-in-a-lifetime situation, I think, for a lot of people," Ott said. "It's too bad for the fans that probably got there early, spent some money on whatever, hot dogs or sodas or beers or whatnot, and obviously had to go home without seeing a game. That's probably where it hurts the most, in all seriousness, is the people that showed up."
Wings coach Jeff Blashill and the other coaches focused on getting ready for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the delay.
"The one thing I think is we've got to make sure our focus is good today," Blashill said. "When you go through a different situation like that, it's kind of looser, and I'm fine with looser as long as we're loose and focused. So we've got to make sure our focus is good to play a really good team."
Ott said he thought if they'd actually played late in Carolina, then it might have affected them more. "
But it gave us a little bit of rest, to be honest with you, to come in here and show our best against Tampa now," Ott said. "All of us kind of feel refreshed that in a way, that you're not coming here on a back-to-back against a really tough divisional team, you have a little bit of extra energy now coming into this one."
JENSEN TO FINALLY DEBUT: One player who really wanted to play in Carolina was defenseman Nick Jensen.
Jensen had been called up that day when defenseman Alexey Marchenko went on seven-day injured reserve and was looking to make his NHL debut.
"Yesterday was an interesting first debut," Jensen said. "It was kind of funny. It's going to make a good story one day, obviously. It was kind of tough getting ready for the game, 10 minutes before we're on the ice, I'm putting my gear on and find out we have a delay. Thinking we're going in 20 minutes or so, ended up waiting around two hours, legs started tightening up anyways so I guess it's a good thing they called it. A lot of guys were out of it. I'm in tonight so I've got another game to look forward to, another game to get ready for."
Last season, Jensen was called up in January but did not get to play before heading back to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.
The Wings also lost a defenseman at Monday's morning skate when a deflected puck hit Brian Lashoff in the mouth and he had to be helped off the ice.
Lashoff did take part in Tuesday's morning skate.
"He'll be available," Blashill said. "We'll make our decisions after warmup but he'll be available."
Jensen said none of his family or friends made it to Carolina, fortunately.
"There was no one that could make a flight," Jensen said. "Everyone that I know was up in Minnesota or Michigan. I think the earliest they could have got down was 8:30 or so, which was looking like they would have made it at one point but it got canceled. I'm glad nobody came down for it."
Jensen said his wife, Jennifer, planned to make it for the Tampa Bay game.
One thing is for sure, the experience in Carolina was something he'll never forget - even though he didn't make his debut.
"That's why I think it was funny," Jensen said. "I finally get my chance in the NHL, which is the biggest stage of them all and I've never seen that in my life. So I thought it was funny, a little bad luck, but what are you going to do?"
The Lightning also have a player making his debut - forward Tanner Richard.
HOWARD IN VS. TAMPA: Howard was originally supposed to start in Carolina.
Like a rain delay in baseball with a pitching rotation, Howard was pushed back a day and will start against the Lightning.
"It's a divisional opponent," Howard said. "These points are huge. We've yet to beat them this year. We gotta go out and play the way we did against Anaheim."
The Lightning have won four straight against the Wings.
"That's tough to answer," Lightning forward Tyler Johnson said. "They're a team that we enjoy playing just because of the competitiveness and how hard-fought each game is. We've built up quite a bit of history the last few years against them so I think everyone gets up for it and it's a lot of fun."
Johnson is a main reason for the Lightning's success against the Wings.
In 15 regular-season games against Detroit, Johnson has four goals and 10 assists.
The Lightning sit in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with 33 points in 32 games.
The Wings are not far behind in sixth with 32 points in 32 games.
Ott is new to the rivalry but has jumped right into it. He had three minor penalties in the first game against them and then fought Brian Boyle in the second.
"I love it," Ott said. "I got a taste of it last game, obviously sitting in the box for a little bit. Both teams are very competitive. It's a situation where you hear stories of how the playoffs went the last two years and you have to go through them if you have a chance to win. For us, we take that very strong in the regular season just to have that chance in the playoffs again."
ABDELKADER SKATES: Justin Abdelkader, who has missed the last 10 games with a knee injury, joined the team for the morning skate for the first time since the injury.
Also skating with the team were Darren Helm and Brendan Smith.
Marchenko and Tyler Bertuzzi continue to skate with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar.