The Detroit Red Wings (43-21-3) will be looking to return to the win column and attempting to catch the streaking St. Louis Blues when they host the playoff hungry Los Angeles Kings (31-24-12) at the Joe Louis Arena this evening (7:30pm EST, Fox Sports Detroit)
The Wings remain a banged-up hockey team right now, despite the two off-days since their tough 3-2 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. Some good news from practice yesterday included the site of
Pavel Datsyuk practicing in full equipment. His target remains to return at some point next week during the Wings three-game California road trip.
Jonathan Ericsson also was able to practice on Thursday, despite having very limited use of his wrist. Both
Jimmy Howard and
Nicklas Lidstrom skated for a short time prior to practice, but there has been no word on their anticipated return.
Gustav Nyquist was recalled from Grand Rapids on Thursday, expected to take over
Chris Conner's spot in the lineup in place of
Todd Bertuzzi. Surprisingly,
Joakim Andersson was recalled early Friday morning. No word as of yet who is the Red Wing forward likely to be held out of the lineup this evening, but the smart money seems to be that
Henrik Zetterberg is the likely guy, having missed practice on Thursday and apparently dealing with an ankle injury of his own. Mike Babcock did suggest yesterday following practice that Zetterberg would play tonight. The other potential candidate might be
Daniel Cleary, and his ailing knee.
UPDATE: As of 10:39 am EST,
Ken Holland announced to the Red Wing beatwriters that Andersson was recalled due to
Justin Abdelkader dealing with the flu. Abdelkader will make a decision later today on whether he feels well enough to play.
As a result, there very well could be up to six players in Detroit's lineup that just a few weeks ago were playing full-time for the Grand Rapids Griffins. Surely this binge of injuries very well could cost Detroit a chance at a Western Conference and Central Division title, along with potentially facing the dreaded 4 vs. 5 matchup in Round 1 of the playoffs. However, it could also end up being a blessing in disguise two months from now in providing several key veteran players a minor "break" to recharge the batteries and freshen up for the drive to the postseason.
More to come as the day progresses.
[email protected]
Make sure to follow Mark on Twitter! 
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»