For Hawks, Red Wings still the standard bearer

When it comes to NHL franchises, the Detroit Red Wings are the gold standard.

The Red Wings draft well, finding one gem after another, particularly in Europe. They develop their players, they sign the right free agents and they win (four Stanley Cups in the last 11 years).

They win even though every other team in the league guns for them on a nightly basis. The Detroit games are the ones opponents circle on the schedule, and the Blackhawks are no different.

These have been measuring-stick games for the Hawks in the past, and most of the time they have served only to illustrate how big the gap was between the two Original Six organizations.

Now the gap might be closing a bit, or at least the Hawks would like to think so.

"Overall, they're a team where everyone would love to narrow that gap," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "In the division, whoever is going to push them, certainly we feel that would be a great opportunity for us knowing you'd be in a good spot in the division and the conference and playoff race. That's something we should be shooting for.

"We feel we have a chance, I don't want to say to rekindle the rivalry because I still think it's in place, but it would be nice for us to challenge them not only in games. Let's start challenging them in the division."

The Red Wings have won the last seven Central Division titles, last season by a whopping 24 points over Nashville.

The Wings know they are going to be tested everywhere they play, and what makes them special is how often they rise to the occasion.

"We're going to get everybody's best shots," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We talked about that before the season started. Teams will measure themselves by how they'll play us. We've got to be ready for that."

So far the Red Wings have been ready for the challenge with three wins in their first three road games. But Saturday's game against the Hawks at the United Center might be their biggest early season test.

Not only will the Red Wings be coming off a game on Friday at home against Atlanta, but the spunky Hawks beat them five times last season in eight meetings.

"It's one of those things where we had confidence playing against them last year," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "But I think Detroit plays the same way every game regardless of who they play against. We just have to have the same attitude we did last year and step our game up to the next level. Everybody does that, and they're going to expect that from us."

There are no secrets to beating the Red Wings. Take care of the puck and don't let their skill people such as Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and now Marian Hossa take over the game.

"You definitely have to be real smart against them with the puck because they have the guys that can turn it around pretty quickly and put it in the back of the net before you have time to wonder what happened out there," Duncan Keith said.

"We need good energy and we have to be aware that when we do have the puck we've got to manage it as best we can," Quenneville said. "Let's play responsible and stay out of the penalty box."