DETROIT — Valtteri Filppula left practice early because his right knee was bothering him.
It’s the same knee he suffered an MCL injury to in Finland during the lockout.
“It’s been bothering me for a little bit,” said Filppula, who expects to play Friday against Minnesota. “I was expecting it and expected that I would still be feeling it. It hasn’t been that long yet, so hopefully it goes away soon.”
Playing the three games in four nights probably didn’t help matters.
“I want to play and it hasn’t been feeling too bad,” Filppula said. “I was expecting it to be a little sore, so in that way I don’t think I came back too early.”
