Video: Jonatan Berggren finally scores his first goal of the season

Hooray! Detroit Red Wings prospect Jonatan Berggren finally scored his first goal of the year. This season is a big year for the Swedish-born forward, knowing he'd be a regular at the NHL level for the first time in his career.

Berggren, 24, entered the year unable to be sent to Grand Rapids without being placed on waivers. The same went for defenseman Albert Johansson. Berggren led the Griffins a year ago with 56 points, including 24 goals over 53 games. He did appear in 12 games last year for Detroit, recording two goals and six points.

Heading into Wednesday's game in Pittsburgh, Berggren had recorded just one assist on the season but remained a bright spot among the Red Wings' bottom-six forwards, often generating scoring chances but failing to finish. Berggren usually skates on a line with rookie Marco Kasper, a player he's built continuity with during their time together in Grand Rapids last season, along with veteran Vladimir Tarasenko. That third line as a group has underperformed on the scoresheet but often plays as Detroit's second-best line when it comes to generating scoring chances. Hockey can be a weird sport, but if the scoring chances continue, the production is sure to follow.

Check out just how snakebitten Berggren had been heading into Wednesday night's game. Berggren ranks 701st in the league with a -2.9 in goals above expected on the season.

Wednesday's goal ends a 19-game slump for Jonatan Berggren.

"Sometimes hockey is weird," Berggren said. "Sometimes you play so bad and they go right in, you get 2-3 points. But now I play pretty decent offense and the puck doesn’t want to go in. But that’s what it is. I am happy I still produce offensive chances."

Berggren has really focused on being a more complete player this season, knowing it's the Red Wings way and his best way to stick at this level.

"I feel like I have shown I can be a decent 200-feet player," he said. "I feel my decision making and the wall play has improved. It’s such a tough league, so when you have a chance to play the easy game you maybe take it and don’t force plays. That’s what I’m most happy with it, and I feel the coaches are happy I’ve improved in that aspect, too."

Recently, I wrote about how Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde needed to tweak his lineup in an attempt to create more scoring opportunities. One of the moves was to put Berggren up with Lucas Raymond on the second line. In a perfect world, they'd be centered by Kasper, but I understand that would be a bit too much youth in the top-six for Lalonde, so Compher centering that unit would still be satisfying. That adjustment would remove Copp from the top six and place him where he belongs in the bottom six.

That said, the third line of Kasper, Tarasenko, and Berggren is due to catch fire, and if that happens, all will be good in Red Wings land for the time being, aside from not playing Johansson every day and rotating Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson instead.