DETROIT >> Maybe it was the pancakes. Possibly it was the decision to play sewer ball again that has turned Jonatan Berggren’s season around.

Whatever it was, it has worked.

Berggren’s goal in Thursday’s win against the New York Islanders, which tied the game at 1 in the third period, was his third in the last five games. After not having scored in the first 14 games, that’s a turnaround and a huge relief, though everyone around the Wings agreed it was just a matter of time given Berggren’s offensive ability.

“Bergy has been playing great,” said Lucas Raymond, who scored the winning goal Thursday five minutes later. “Just his entire game. It’s really fun to see and everyone knows what he can do with the puck. He showed it; a huge goal for us.”

So what has helped turn it around for Berggren, who is a bit superstitious?

“Oh yeah, I did everything (different),” Berggren said of his routines. “Marco (Kasper) and I were talking about pancakes and how I started playing sewer again. That’s the biggest part of it, and the goals have come.”

Sewer ball is basically the pregame warm-up hockey players do by keeping a soccer ball in the air while taking turns passing the ball to each other. The last player to touch the ball before it hits the ground is out.

Berggren was an avid player up until this season.

“I wasn’t doing it before. I did it last year, I don’t know why I quit,” Berggren said. “But I started it an hour before the game and I’m going to continue. That, and the pancakes.”

The pancakes tradition is something Berggren has with Kasper.

“It’s me and Marco pregame,” Berggren said. “I tried pancakes before the Pittsburgh game and I scored (his first goal this season). I’m sticking to that.”

Berggren was looking to change his goal-scoring luck, but on the whole he wasn’t displeased with the way he was playing. It was simply a matter of getting a favorable bounce or scoring an ugly goal to break through into the scoring column.

“Kind of a rough start point-wise but I was feeling like my overall game was pretty good,” Berggren said. “I was always confident the goals were probably going to come if I keep doing the right stuff.

“Finally, it has come and I’m happy.”

Berggren’s goal Thursday was a nicely placed shot over goaltender Ilya Sorokin’s shoulder off a rush. Seeing one of the premier goaltenders in the NHL in front of him, Berggren didn’t have much time to analyze what he was going to do with the puck and showed some of the confidence he’s playing with.

“I saw Vlade (linemate Vladimir Tarasenko) beside me and I was thinking about passing to him because I’m a little scared of him,” said Berggren, smiling. “But I didn’t think too much about it. My shot has grown this season and when you’re in the moment, you don’t think about it much. I’m just happy it went in.”

Ice chips

Coach Derek Lalonde said the Wings will have the same lineup Saturday to face Boston, other than Justin Holl going back in on defense and Cam Talbot in net.

“Holl back in but I haven’t decided for who yet,” Lalonde said. “I want to keep our defense going with some rhythm and we need to find some consistency with whoever plays on a given night. Cam will play (Saturday) but we haven’t gotten that far (Monday in Long Island).

“It would make sense to have Alex (Lyon) against the Islanders (Lyon has allowed one goal in six periods against the Islanders this season). But Cam will be in net (Saturday) and we’ll go from there.”

… Lalonde wants to see more Wings around the net and potentially scoring on tips and deflections, similar to how the Islanders scored Thursday.

“We still need to be harder getting to those scoring areas more,” Lalonde said. “We have some guys who are smaller and lighter, but we need to get there. You look at the Islanders goal, that’s the goal we were talking about in wanting and I still think we need to get.”

… Wings players were thrilled to have an opportunity to meet Pavel Datsyuk, who was honored by the Wings during Thursday’s pregame ceremony for his recent induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“He was around (Thursday) morning a little bit and it’s just kind of one of those things where it’s like you’re in awe,” Lyon said. “All of us are pretty much at the point where we grew up watching him and Larks (Dylan Larkin) obviously played with him. But when you see a legend like that, you just have appreciation for what they’ve done, and ultimately how much work they’ve put in to get to that point. That’s something that kind of goes unnoticed.

“It’s cool to see, for sure. He’s part of Detroit history, so it was fun to see him out there.”