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Larkin A Game-Time Decision |
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Dylan Larkin skated Tuesday in practice with the Detroit Red Wings at center on the top forward line between Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader. Trevor Daley skated in the fourth defense pairing with Luke Witkowski. And left-winger Tyler Bertuzzi was nowhere to be seen.
The updates on Detroit’s walking wounded:
Larkin A Game-Time Decision
Though he practiced Tuesday, Larkin was held out of battle drills. Detroit’s leading scorer missed Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators with an oblique injury and Detroit coach Jeff Blashill was non-committal as to whether he’d have his best player available for Thursday’s game at Little Caesars Arena against the Ottawa Senators.
“It’s too early,’ Blashill told Detroitredwings.com. “We’ll make those decisions, watch warmups and see.”
The Wings don’t want to put Larkin into a situation where he might aggravate the injury and turn a 1-2 week absence into a lengthy sitdown.
“He did pretty good but the biggest concern is we, the coaching staff and training staff, don’t want to put him in a situation where all the sudden he’s set back for two weeks,” Blashill said. “So that’s something we’ll talk about.
“I think if it was just a matter of fighting through pain he’d play for sure. But if there’s concern that it could set him back two weeks, he doesn’t want that, just like we don’t want that.”
Bertuzzi Still Uncertain
The Wings hoped to have more answers on Bertuzzi’s situation by now, but none have been forthcoming yet. He’s missed the last two games with an upper-body injury.
“Right now, it’s still in the prognosis where (they) looked at his neck, his neck appears to be fine,” Blashill said. “Cognitively, from a testing standpoint, he’s doing all right. It’s just a matter of him feeling in a spot where he’s ready to start a progression and he’s not quite there yet.”
Daley Not Ready Yet
Defenseman Daley (broken foot) also definitely won’t be in the lineup Thursday, but he’s inching closer to a return to action. He’s been out since Dec. 29 and has missed a total of 14 games.
“He skated yesterday, he skated today, he seems to be in a good spot,” Blashill said. “He’s not available tomorrow. I think at some point during our (three-game) trip he’d become available.
“Then I’d have decisions to make on who’s in the lineup.”
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