The Red Wings will be without star centre Pavel Datsyuk (concussion) on Wednesday against the Bruins. (Warren Wimmer/Icon SMI)
A strong four-line performance is an absolute must for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday against a Boston Bruins squad who sits atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference. If it wasn’t clear before, it became more so on Tuesday when the team announced that Pavel Datsyuk would miss his second straight game with an apparent concussion.
Moving On Without Datsyuk
Datsyuk missed the team’s Sunday afternoon tilt against Buffalo with the same symptoms. He suffered the injury on an elbow by Senators’ defenseman Jared Cowen early last week. Now, the NHL deemed the elbow to be accidental – a questionable call by Wings’ captain Henrik Zetterberg.
http://youtu.be/CAh4bU1dnTE
Bertuzzi Still Sore
Datsyuk won’t be the only forward missing from the Wings’ lineup on Wednesday. The team will also be without their big veteran forward Todd Bertuzzi who will miss his third straight game with an upper body injury.
Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk ‘out’ vs. Bruins http://t.co/USZec4P1GX
— George Malik (@georgemalik) November 26, 2013
Pavel Datsyuk not on ice for practice, neither is Todd Bertuzzi.
— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) November 26, 2013
In their absence, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, and Gustav Nyquist will likely make up the top line against the Bruins – a combination that played well against Buffalo on Sunday. Datsyuk will be a big loss as he currently ranks second on the team in points (12-11-23) behind only Zetterberg. Both are considered day-to-day and will be reevaluated after Wednesday’s game.
For questions and comments, follow Andrew on Twitter @AndrewGForbes