Wings' Pavel Datsyuk won't play vs. Kings

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Pavel Datsyuk (upper-body injury) will not play against Los Angeles on Thursday night, and the Red Wings are listing him as day-to-day.

He did not take part in the morning skate, nor was he available for comment.

Without Datsyuk, coach Mike Babcock has had to redraw the lines, again.

Here's how they will go Thursday:

Dan Cleary-Henrik Zetterberg-Todd Bertuzzi

Ville Leino-Valtteri Filppula-Jason Williams

Kirk Maltby-Kris Draper-Tomas Holmstrom

Darren Helm-Justin Abdelkader-Patrick Eaves

"What happens when you are short-staffed is that everybody has to grind it out and you find a way to win," Babcock said, adding that his top guns have to start firing, namely Zetterberg.

Zetterberg has yet to score a goal this season.

"Z's got to get to another level, that's just the bottom line," Babcock said. "He's got to skate. Now, that's easy for me to say. Anytime you don't play in training camp (Zetterberg had a groin injury), it takes you a bit. But we're five games in. I thought the last two games he's started to come around. We need that."

Babcock also said that Brett Lebda would replace Derek Meech on the third defense pairing with Jonathan Ericsson.
 
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