DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings are a collection of future Hall of Famers, veteran role players and promising young talents. Frankly, it's quite an amazing mix.

But, whenever they've faced adversity during this Stanley Cup playoff drive, they haven't fallen back on their individual talents. Rather, they've leaned on basics of the game, which is exactly what good, smart, winning hockey teams do.

In the first round, after dropping Games 1 and 2 to a red-hot underdog Canucks team on home ice, the Wings made a few lineup changes and simplified their attack. As a result, they won the next four games, deflating the Canucks in six games.

They did the same thing after suffering a Game 3 rout by St. Louis in the second round and throughout their seven-game series with Colorado in the conference finals. Despite their wealth of talent, the Wings have reached the Cup finals because they've played good, sound, old-fashioned playoff hockey.

Now, in the Stanley Cup finals, the Wings are faced with an opponent who excels at doing the little things (like taking short shifts, making good line chances and winning faceoffs). There are no Joe Sakics or Peter Forsbergs on the Carolina Hurricanes. Instead, there are 20 very committed players with well-defined roles.

So, faced with the almost unthinkable possibility of falling behind 2-0 to the underdog Hurricanes, the Wings again will go back to the basics. And, for coach Scotty Bowman, that starts with puck movement.

"Our passes really hurt us, especially in the first half of the game," said Bowman on Wednesday. "We caused ourselves a lot of turnovers (in the neutral zone). It didn't result in a lot of damage, but it certainly stopped the offense."

Bowman, who was clearly displeased with his team's performance in Game 1, figures his players must improve their play in the neutral zone. The legendary coach believes that poor neutral-zone play effects several areas of the game.

"If you don't do good work in the neutral zone, you probably don't make good changes," said Bowman, who watched his team surrender a key goal late in the second period after a bad line change.

Recognizing Carolina's ability to move the puck quickly out of its end, Bowman also would like to see his team make smarter dump-ins into the 'Canes' zone.

"If you make a lousy shoot-in, it is a pretty good chance your defense is not going to get up the ice," Bowman explained. "[The defensemen] start looking around and they are back a little bit.

"We have to correct our entries (into the attacking zone) and we have to correct where we put the puck."

Solid neutral zone play, good line changes and smart dump-ins are some of the little things -- the basics -- that separate winners and losers in the Stanley Cup playoffs. In Game 2, Bowman's all-star cast had better get back to those basics. Because, if they don't, they could find themselves separated from a championship they should win.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.