After rebounding from a pathetic effort at home last week vs. the Edmonton Oilers by garnering 3 out of possible 4 points in the Big Apple, the Red Wings responded last night by getting shutout for the third time in eight games. This time it came at the hands of former Red Wing Ty Conklin, who stopped 42 shots. Jimmy Howard once again was solid in goal for Detroit, but the Wings are now 1-3 vs. St. Louis this season. To make matters worse, Detroit is now 1-5-1 in their past seven home games and welcome the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night to attempt to improve upon that record.
Adding insult to injury last night, the Red Wings lost another forward for an extended period of time as Daniel Cleary has been added to the lengthy list of Detroit's walking wounded.
With Valteri Filppula hopeful of returning by the end of the month and Niklas Kronwall and Jason Williams not far behind, expect Ken Holland to try to bridge the gap with a call-up or two from Grand Rapids. Kris Newbury, Jeremy Williams, Cory Emmerton or even pro rookie Tomas Tatar could all get a look.
Red Wings' Dan Cleary out four weeks with separated shoulder
By Ansar Khan
December 10, 2009, 12:10PM
DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings forward Dan Cleary has a separated shoulder and is expected to be out for four weeks, coach Mike Babcock said after Thursday's practice.
Cleary was injured on an open-ice hit from St. Louis Blues defenseman Barret Jackman with about five minutes remaining in Wednesday's game.
“It’s a tough loss seeing Bear go down,'' Kris Draper said. "He’s been playing so good for us, He’s used in all situations. It’s another big loss. The thing is, these injuries aren’t little things. That’s the unfortunate thing. You just got to go out and play with whoever we have and get the job done.’’
Cleary is tied for third on the team in goals (seven) and points (16) but has a minus-8 rating, which is tied with Ville Leino for the worst mark on the club.
Cleary joins a long list of Red Wings who have sustained long-term injuries during the first 30 games of the season: Johan Franzen (torn knee ligament), Valtteri Filppula (broken wrist), Jason Williams (broken fibula) and Niklas Kronwall (sprained knee).
General manager Ken Holland said the team, which has no extra healthy players, will not recall anybody from Grand Rapids (AHL), at least through the weekend. Leino, a healthy scratch the last two games, will be re-inserted into the lineup for Friday's game against Anaheim at Joe Louis Arena.
"We’ll go with all hands on deck,'' Babcock said. "I thought we played hard last night. We’ve played hard the majority of the time, we had a couple of bad games that way. Just got to keep getting the group to play hard, play for one another, believe in the structure that protects you when you got people not available.''
The club had an optional practice Thursday, giving several players who log a lot of ice time the day off: Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.
Babcock said he'll use these lines for Friday's game:
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