Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson will make his first appearance in goal since Oct. 23 when he leads the Detroit Red Wings onto the ice Saturday night against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum.
Gustavsson hasn't played since he came on in relief of Jimmy Howard during a 6-1 home loss to the Ottawa Senators, and he hasn't started since Oct. 17, when he completed a run of three in a row while starter Jimmy Howard was injured. Gustavsson won all three games and was voted the NHL's First Star of the Week.
He went on the injured list on Nov. 1 with a neck problem.
"I'm looking forward to it," he told the media after the morning skate, according to Mlive.com. "It's a chance for me to keep working on my game and try to help the team get some wins."
Howard played Friday night in Detroit's 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals at Joe Louis Arena, a game in which the Red Wings led 3-1 after two periods.
Forward Daniel Alfredsson is likely to be a game-time decision; he was a late scratch Friday after injuring his groin during warm-ups, leaving the Red Wings one skater short. He told the media after the morning skate that he won't know whether he'll be able to play until shortly before game time.
The Red Wings recalled center Luke Glendening from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League as insurance.
Here are the likely line combinations for the Red Wings:
Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Todd Bertuzzi
Tomas Tatar - Johan Franzen - Daniel Alfredsson/Luke Glendening
Daniel Cleary - Darren Helm - Mikael Samuelsson
Drew Miller - Joakim Andersson - Justin Abdelkader
Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson
Injured: Brendan Smith (shoulder), Stephen Weiss (groin)