Six weeks of healing and waiting will come to an end for left-winger Teemu Pulkkinen when he hits the ice Sunday as the Detroit Red Wings return home from a six-game road trip to face the Philadelphia Flyers at Joe Louis Arena.
Pulkkinen, who had registered 6-5-11 totals in 24 games before he was hurt, felt he was just beginning to find his comfort zone as an NHLer when he suffered a separated shoulder on a hit by Arizona Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal in a Dec. 3 game at Joe Louis Arena.
“A little bit for sure,… Pulkkinen said. “I know what they want me to do there. It's a good thing.
“I've been out six weeks so it's never easy to come back. I haven't been in the league a long time. It's not easy for the guys who have been in the league long time so I’ll just try to keep it simple and play hard.…
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill confirmed that Pulkkinen would be in the lineup for Sunday’s game.
“I think so far he’s done a good job,… Blashill said. “The games he’s played he’s done a good job. He was unfortunately hurt.
“He’s in the mix with a bunch of guys I think are good players. Some of them have had longer opportunity to prove it than Pulky has. But I think when Pulky has been in he’s played good.
“For him to be good he’s got to make sure he’s doing things right defensively. He’s got to come back and stop, he’s got to be available on breakouts and then what he does all the time I think is competes real hard.
“He’s off to the puck a lot and then he’s got to make plays offensively. Obviously, part of that is shooting. He can really shoot it. But I think sometimes he’s discounted for his ability to make plays. He can make plays. “The other thing he can potentially do is bring a real scoring threat on that other power-play unit. We’re hoping that just his shot alone can create chaos to make a good unit.…
Pulkkinen will wear a brace as a precaution, but indicated that his shoulder is fine and that his shot is all the way back to its usual potency.
“Actually I feel good,… Pulkkinen said. “My shoulder is 100 per cent, so that's a good thing. Shooting is fine. Everything should be fine. I feel my shot is there and I’ll just try to use it tomorrow. “With the skating, we're going to see tomorrow how I feel but obviously I think it's going to take a couple games, maybe a game or two, to get to the game speed.
“I’ll just try to keep it simple, play hard and play short shifts and I think I'm fine.…
Pulkkinen will start off on Detroit’s fourth line. Blashill will wait until Sunday morning to determine which forward will come out of the lineup to make way for Pulkkinen, almost certainly one of either Tomas Jurco or Joakim Andersson.
Blashill believes Pulkkinen can bring a finishing element to the unit and that he can be offensively productive while playing on the fourth line.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily a challenge in the sense that Luke (Glendening) is hard on the puck,… Blashill said. “Luke will go to the net, so depending on who else (Pulkkinen is) with there, he’s got to continue to worry about his game and that’s making sure he’s on pucks and when he gets the puck shoot it in the net, so I think he’s got opportunities to do that.
“I don’t think it matters who he plays with.…
The Wings will go with the same six defensemen against the Flyers that played in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win at Arizona, so that means Alexey Marchenko watches from the press box for the second straight game. Petr Mrazek will start in goal, his sixth start in the last seven games.
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