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The Detroit Red Wings will go into the final game before their bye week against the No. 1 team in the NHL minus their most important player.
Goaltender Jimmy Howard did not practice Saturday and won’t suit up for Sunday’s game at Little Caesars Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning, having suffered a lower-body injury in Friday’s 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
“Jimmy is out for tomorrow,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill confirmed to Mlive.com after practice Saturday. “I would say right now it’s day to day, lower body.”
Petr Mrazek will make the start in goal and the Wings will recall a netminder from AHL Grand Rapids after the Griffins play tonight to serve as Mrazek’s back up.
If you were picking the MVP of the Wings right now, Howard would lead the balloting. He has played well for the majority of this season and has posted an impressive .960 save percentage over Detroit’s last five games. He’s won four in a row.
“Howie’s been playing out of his mind and it’s nice to see that he gets rewarded with some wins, too,” Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said.
Blashill downplayed the injury, insisting it was nothing serious and that the team was simply erring on the side of caution, recognizing that after Sunday’s game, they don’t play again until Jan. 13 at Pittsburgh.
“All I know is he’s out for tomorrow and let’s see how it goes,” Blashill said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a real long-term thing, but I don’t have the answer. He said he happened last night in the second period. It’s not a nagging injury.
“He was able to finish the game, tried to skate this morning and couldn’t do everything he wanted to do to be comfortable to play.”
Regardless, it still has to be disconcerting news, considering Howard’s problems in recent seasons with knee and groin ailments. He missed 37 games last season and a month during the 2014-15 campaign due to injury.
Helping Hand
Feeding a bankhand pass that sprung Gus Nyquist for a breakaway goal in the third period of Friday’s win, Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg became the 85th player in NHL history to collect 600 career assists.
“It’s always fun to reach milestones like that,” Zetterberg said. “It’s nice when it comes combined with a win.”
Others seemed far more impressed by the accomplishment. “That’s unbelievable,” teammate Andreas Athanasiou said. “That’s crazy. That’s so many.”
Zetterberg is only the sixth player to record 600 helpers while wearing a Red Wings uniform, joining Steve Yzerman (1063), Gordie Howe (1023), Nicklas Lidstrom (878), Alex Delvecchio (825) and Pavel Datsyuk (604).
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