Collision in practice gives Kirk Maltby deep thigh bruise

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It could have been a lot worse.

There was a nasty collision between Kirk Maltby and Justin Abdelkader during a practice drill Monday. Both went down hard.

"I had lost the puck and turned to go get it," Abdelkader said. "I got the puck and took one step and there was Malts, and he was flying."



The players never saw one another until it was too late. Maltby got the worst of it, suffering a deep bruise in his right thigh. He is questionable for the game Tuesday at Buffalo.

"Sometimes when you get hit like this, whether it's by a puck or whatever, you think you are OK and then the next morning it's more sore," Maltby said. "But I don't expect any long-term effects from this. I am just going to treat it like a bruise."

Helm back? Coach Mike Babcock has some decisions to make before Tuesday's game. Darren Helm (shoulder), according to Helm and the training staff, is ready to play. Babcock wouldn't commit to anything Monday, but said of these four players -- Helm, Kris Draper, Maltby and Patrick Eaves -- two would play.

"I think Helmer is ready to go," Babcock said. "If Grand Rapids (AHL) was playing today, he'd be playing in Grand Rapids today. But now we would have to wait until the weekend. We'd like to get him in (before that)."

Helm can't wait.

"I can play; I think I am ready," he said. "We did some more contact things today and there was no pain. It's a lot better. I just hope they say OK."

 

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Red Wings' offense is productive so far

You're asking for trouble if you have to give up two goals or fewer in order to win these days, but the Red Wings don't seem overly concerned about it.

"I thought we could've scored six goals in our last game (Washington)," goaltender Chris Osgood said. "I thought we've been snakebit a little bit this year, hitting posts and missing some great opportunities. We are going to have a breakout game soon where we score a lot of goals."

The Wings have scored three goals in each of their four games. That statistic normally would be unremarkable this early, except the Wings are playing without four of their top 10 scorers from a year ago -- Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler (playing elsewhere), and Johan Franzen (out, knee).

"We still have a lot of guys who can score," Osgood said. "(Darren) Helm and Abby (Justin Abdelkader) have scored goals in the playoffs before so there's no reason they should go into games thinking they can't score. This is their opportunity to have a breakout season, to put a stamp on their careers."



The line combinations, redrawn after Franzen's injury, have only one game under their belts. But the top two lines -- Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Todd Bertuzzi and Ville Leino-Valtteri Filppula-Danny Cleary -- did show some signs of coming alive against the Capitals last weekend.

"No, we don't feel like there's pressure on us to hold teams to two goals a night," captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "But that's something we've talked about and it's something we've been able to do in the past. We want to continue to play well defensively. ... If we can keep it at two or lower, that would be great."

 

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Lydman to replace injured Sekera

The Sabres' first injury swap of the regular season is here. Insert Toni Lydman, scratch Andrej Sekera.

Lydman missed the first three games of the season with a hand injury, and coach Lindy Ruff said the veteran defenseman will be ready to play Tuesday when the Red Wings visit HSBC Arena. Lydman will be needed after Sekera was hurt in the second period of Saturday's 1-0 victory over Nashville.

"Andrej has got a rib injury, and he's going to miss at least a couple weeks. It could be longer," Ruff said after practice today. "He doesn't really know how he got hurt, so it's sort of a strange one."

Lydman will play on the blue line alongside Steve Montador, who was Sekera's partner. That leaves the pairings of Chris Butler-Craig Rivet and Henrik Tallinder-Tyler Myers intact.

"I don't think we need to change anything," Ruff said. "I've liked what the pairs have done. So short term, we'll throw him in that slot and get him going."

 

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Chris Osgood, who is 4-1-2 with a 1.75 goals-against average in HSBC Arena, will start in net for Detroit. ... The game will be nationally televised and shown exclusively on Versus.

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