Injury news on Red Wings players Brian Rafalski and Pavel Datsyuk remains unclear after both left the game against Columbus on Thursday in the third period.
Ansar Khan of MLive reported that both players were walking around fine in the locker room but more won’t be known until tomorrow. Datsyuk said he hopes to play Saturday in Nashville, but wouldn’t say any more than that.
“I just take a hit – lower-body injury,‘’ Datsyuk said. “I’m hoping (to play Saturday in Nashville), but now it’s after the game. In a couple of days we’ll see. Tomorrow we’ll make a decision. See how it feels in the morning.’’
Rafalski gave a similar sentiment about his right knee, which took a hit from Columbus’ Antoine Vermette with five minutes to play. Rafalski said the knee brace he wears prevented a much worse injury. He came back out after the game to test it out on the ice, and said as long as his MCL is undamaged he’ll be fine.
“See if the swelling goes down tomorrow,‘’ Rafalski said. "Can’t let it get stiffed up. At first the pain was (bad) and then it started going away after a few seconds.’’