The Detroit Red Wings will do without two key special teams players for at least the next six weeks.
Forwards Teemu Pulkkinen and Drew Miller, both left during the first period of Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes with what appeared to be serious injuries and Friday, the seriousness of their ailments were revealed.
Pulkkinen, taken hard into the boards by Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal, suffered a dislocated shoulder.
“They popped it back in last night after the game,… Detroit GM Ken Holland said of Pulkkinen’s shoulder. He’s expected to miss six to eight weeks, though at this point, it doesn’t appear that any surgery will be required.
“Right now, no,… Holland said. “Hopefully it all goes good. The preferred treatment is to go conservative.
“We’re going to go conservative, but if we wake up and we know it’s not healing as you’d hoped (things could change), but the plan is right now just give it a chance to heal.…
Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg saw the play and knew right away that Pulkkinen was in trouble.
“It kind of looked like they got tangled up a little bit,… Zetterberg said. “Their guy is a heavy guy and he was behind him. Not much for Pulkky to do.…
Zetterberg also witnessed the devastating check that Miller absorbed.
“It looked like a heavy hit,… Zetterberg said. “Obviously he hit Drew right in the jaw with his shoulder. That hurt. It looked like a clean hit to me, just hit him in a bad spot.…
Miller was left woozy and with Bambi legs after taking a shoulder to the chin from Coyotes defenseman Klas Dahlbeck and it turned out he has a fractured jaw.
“They’re going to put in some plates I think,… Holland said. “They’re not going wire it so he can get some liquids in. He’s out six weeks, give or take, might be a little less, might be a little more.…
Miller, who had played 190 consecutive games, is a tireless worker on Detroit’s penalty kill, currently tied for seventh in the NHL.
“Millsie’s a tough guy,… teammate Darren Helm said. “He brings a lot to this hockey team. He’s pretty fearless on the PK. He’s blocking a lot of shots for our team, doing a lot of good things.
“He forechecks hard, he’s a big element of this team to miss.…
Pulkkinen has five goals this season and his absence will be felt on the Detroit power play, where his one timer is a significant weapon.
“He played a lot of power play and good five-on-five minutes and unfortunately that happens,… Zetterberg said. “He goes into the tough areas and sometimes that happens, but he’ll be back.…
Opportunity Knocks One player’s misfortune is another’s opportunity and the latter is certainly the case for Detroit forwards Tomas Jurco and Joakim Andersson. Andersson will absorb much of Miller’s work on the penalty kill, while Jurco, who recently lit up the AHL while on a conditioning stint, will be asked to pick up the offensive slack in Pulkkinen’s absence.
“I think there’s probably twofold to that,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said of Jurco’s chance. “I think one is as a player that’s in a spot that he’s in, you’ve got to seize every moment and play great in every situation you can. You’ve got to continue to demand that you should be in the lineup because there are guys obviously in Grand Rapids that are recallable as well.
“I think this is a relentless league and I think you have to get it done at a high level. I think we’ve got lots of faith in Jurcs. Jurcs came out and he didn’t play bad, but we wanted to get Pulkky in. Pulkky didn’t play bad. Now he gets a chance, Jurcs, tomorrow night to play real good and hopefully he goes in and plays real good.…
For the time being, the Wings will go with what they have in Detroit for Saturday’s home game against the Nashville Predators but the team expects there will likely be minor-league recalls early next week as Tuesday the Wings begin a stretch of three games in four nights, two of them on the road.
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