Wings will be without Datsyuk and Alfredsson as they take on red-hot Bruins

DETROIT >> There was an outside chance Pavel Datsyuk would return to the Detroit Red Wings lineup tonight against the Boston Bruins.

That isn’t happening.

The team will also be without Daniel Alfredsson, who’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury according to Detroit general manager Ken Holland.

Todd Bertuzzi gets back in the lineup, skating on the fourth line with Drew Miller and Luke Glendening.

Datsyuk played for Russia at the Olympics, but has only been able to play in two games with the Wings since returning. He last played on Feb. 27, leaving in the second period of a 6-1 win over Ottawa.

“Don’t know,” Datsyuk said when asked when he would return to the lineup. “Not tonight for sure.”

Asked if Friday at home against Buffalo would be when he would return Datsyuk said, “Not today.”

Right now it looks like all Datsyuk needs to do is get back in game shape.

“I need to pick up (the) pace,” Datsyuk said. “I think the two days (of practicing) helped me. I need conditioning more. I can’t do what I do.”

The Wings announced they were shutting Datsyuk down for three weeks at the trade deadline to rest his ailing left knee. Last Friday marked that three-week time frame.

“(I) feel much better,” Datsyuk said. “(I’m) happy to skate with team. Full practice, have fun, try to follow, everybody so fast.”

Datsyuk, who will miss his 16th consecutive game tonight, has 15 goals and 18 assists in 39 games this season. He’s played in just four games since the Winter Classic.

“Yeah,” Datsyuk said when asked if not being able to play is frustrating. “(I) would love to play as soon as possible but I need to be careful.”

Detroit is 7-6-2 without Datsyuk since the Olympic break and hold down the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

“They play unbelievable, but also I need to help (the) team,” Datsyuk said. “I just want to score (on) every shot, that’s what I’m missing. I feel good, but again it’s hard to say it’s 100 percent ready to go. I don’t need to be 100 percent but I need to be careful.”

The Wings face a Boston Bruins team that comes in 15-0-1 in their last 16 games.

“It looks like they’re just mowing everyone down right now,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “They’re rolling. Their good players are scoring. They’ve got good team depth and they’ve got a good team. They’ve got excellent goaltending. This will be a tough test for us tonight. It should be fun.”

Detroit is 2-1-0 this season against the leaders in the Eastern Conference.

Boston won the first meeting in the series, 4-1. Detroit won the next two 3-2 and 6-1.

“The reality is the first time we played them we didn’t touch the puck,” Babcock said. “The second time I thought we had a real close game in their building and the third time in here they weren’t that good. So, sometimes you catch a team at the right time. It doesn’t look like we caught them at the right time.”
The Bruins also are a point ahead of St. Louis for the Presidents’ Trophy.

After bad reaction to knee injection, there’s an outside possibility Cleary could miss the rest of the season

DETROIT >> Daniel Cleary had a procedure done to help his knee for the Wings’ stretch run after the Winter Olympics.

Instead, Cleary has found himself sidelined indefinitely.

Cleary had a painkiller called Synvic One injected in his knee, which is a natural substance that lubricates and cushions knee joints.

It’s a procedure that he’s had done twice earlier and had no side effects.

This time his knee became inflamed.

“There’s like a one percent chance of getting a reaction out of it and I was that one percent,” Cleary said Tuesday at Joe Louis Arena. “It just swelled up real bad, took three weeks for the swelling to go away. I had to drain it numerous times. So now it’s starting to feel better.

“It’s been mentally trying,” Cleary added. “I’m looking to get back on the ice in the next few days.”

Tomas Holmstrom had a similar reaction to the same injection two years ago that made him miss a decent amount of time.

“A lot of people have had it,” Cleary said. “It helps and I wanted to do it for the last 20 games and make the transition to the playoffs like easier, I guess you could say, and I had a one percent reaction. It’s quite fitting, actually, how you see we’ve gone this year with injuries on the team. It’s like, really? That’s how it’s been.”

Detroit is second in the league in man games lost according to mangameslost.com at 379.

“I think the guys are playing great, tip your hat to them,” Cleary said. “I think the objective for anybody who’s hurt is to make yourself available and to get healthy. You want to have as many guys on board as you can.”

Cleary has missed the past 22 games, including all 17 since returning from the Olympic break.

“No, I don’t,” Cleary said when asked if he had a timeframe of when he thought he could return. “It’s been so long. Once you shut it down for so long, you’ve got to rebuild it back up. It’s taken a little while.

“Obviously, you train off the ice,” Cleary continued. “You’re out a week or 10 days or a month or two months, whatever it is, there’s nothing like game condition no matter what you do so you’ve got to get in games, that type of setting. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get it so we’ll see.”

There’s an outside possibility that Cleary could miss the rest of the season because of the injection.

“It could be if I’m not able to get it as strong as I need to get it but I’m working towards that,” Cleary said. “Rehab and not playing is way harder than playing. Let’s put it that way. You try to get out of that (training room) as quick as you can.”

Cleary last skated on his own Saturday.

“You don’t really want to get in the way,” Cleary said. “You want to make sure that you’re going so you can become a part of it rather than get in the way.”