The full-extent of Henrik Zetterberg’s lower body injury isn’t yet known, but he’s at least going to be out for this weekend according to Ansar Khan of MLive:
“He got his leg tangled up with someone out there. We’ll have our own people check him out when we get back tomorrow,‘’ Babcock said. "He probably won’t play through the weekend. We’ll see after that.’’
Zetterberg looked like he got his leg caught in a rut when Carolina’s Bryan Allen nailed him on a open-ice hit near the Hurricanes’ blue line in the first period Wednesday. Zetterberg took an additional shift after the hit but left the game moments later and didn’t return.
This is exactly the reason why I didn’t have a good feeling about playing most of the regulars when the Red Wings already had the Central Division locked up. While they can still get the second seed in the West, health is the main concern for this squad going forward. It’s pretty remarkable the Wings won the Central essentially playing shorthanded all season, and they can ill afford an injury to a key guy like Zetterberg with the playoffs nearing.
Hopefully it’s just a precautionary move holding him out of the final two games, but I don’t like the prospect of having to start the playoffs without the leading scorer on the team.