Notes: Larkin out at least one game, Green will miss rest of season

DETROIT -- The news was not good for a team looking to snap out of an eight-game losing skid.
Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill announced after Thursday's morning skate that defenseman Mike Green would miss the rest of the season because of a recurrence of a virus that kept him out at the start of the season, and center Dylan Larkin would miss at least Thursday's game against the New York Rangers due to a back problem.

"Dylan Larkin's had a lingering back issue that he's tried to play through for the last number of games," Blashill said. "He had an MRI done this morning. Right now we're holding him out tonight, he will not play tonight. Dr. Easton, our back specialist, will look at the film here in the next bit and we'll know more on that in the next few days where he's at.
"Mike Green, as I told you earlier, his body hasn't fought off that virus, he saw a specialist. The recommendation for him is multiple weeks of rest, which puts him out for the season, so he will not play the rest of the season. Larks is out tonight, I'll know more tomorrow, Green is out for the season."
Although it is concerning that Green's virus went away and came back, it is not expected to be a continuing problem.
"That's important to say. I've been told of no concern at all long term," Blashill said. "Obviously, like anything else in life, you never know, you take everything day to day, but they think it's a virus that with proper rest, he'll be fine, but you can't get proper rest when you're going through an NHL season. The purpose of holding him out for the rest of the year is that he can fully recover and once he's fully recovered, he should be totally fine."
As for Larkin, it leaves a large hole on the top line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha.
As Blashill just learned before the morning skate about it, he had not had time to discuss the matter with general manager Ken Holland and assistant general manager Ryan Martin.
Blashill indicated that if they did need to call up a player, it would likely be someone who would remain with the team for the rest of the season.
Andreas Athanasiou has been playing center so there is the thought he could move up to the top line.
"I thought (Filip) Zadina played his best game that he has with us and that was with Andreas and Glenny (Luke Glendening) as a line. I like that line, I like the Nielsen, Vanek and Helm, I thought Helm was excellent last game, so I got to decide how I want to do that in terms of putting a center up with Mantha and Bert," Blashill said. "Now, Mantha, Larks and Bert have been our best line on a consistent basis, so I got to figure that part of it. The reticence I have with moving Andreas away from Zadina is I do think they have played well together and have formed a little chemistry, so we'll see."
Trevor Daley has returned from his own back issue so he can provide another veteran presence on the blue line but Green's minutes will have to go somewhere.
In the last game, Filip Hronek played more than 27 minutes.
"He earned our trust prior to the trade deadline," Blashill said. "When Jense (Nick Jensen) was moved, he was put into that role with DK (Danny DeKeyser) and so now you're in a role where you're playing against the other teams' best. You're playing on the penalty kill, second penalty kill, on our top power-play unit, and it equaled out to 27 minutes the other night. Now, it's OT but there was a lot before the end of regulation.
"He's done a really good job and some of it is learning through trial. I think he's proven himself to be a guy that looks like a for-sure top-four defenseman in this league and that's great for our organization."
Losing Green for the rest of the season and Larkin for however long will have a significant impact.
"Greeny, since about the All-Star break, has been fatigued," Blashill said. "He really tried to play through it but he probably hasn't played to the level that he had previous to that. But a lot of that was just based on fatigue so obviously when you're missing Mike Green, you're missing a guy who's been one of our top defensemen most of the year. When Larks is out, it's a significant loss.
"Now, I think that's a heck of an opportunity for a whole bunch of guys. Larks eats up lots of minutes and he's gotten lots of opportunity. He's earned that ice time but there's other guys in this room that want more ice time so this is a great opportunity for them to show that with more ice time, they can help us win a hockey game or multiple games. So I think it's an unbelievable opportunity for those guys."

ZADINA GAINING CONFIDENCE:There was a reason that Zadina played 18:16 against the Colorado Avalanche Tuesday and it wasn't just that the game went to overtime.
Zadina appeared to command the puck a little more and was rewarded with more ice time.
"It's probably I'm playing good hockey, he likes me, but I just got to keep going and hopefully he will give me the same ice time like I got last game," Zadina said. "I just got to play my best and play good hockey."
Zadina scored his first NHL goal on the power play in the third period Tuesday and naturally, he's heard from a lot of people since then.
"Yeah, obviously, they sent me a lot of messages about scoring the goal," Zadina said. "It was nice to see, but it's over with, the first goal, now we're going to play against Rangers and I got to be concentrated and focused for the game and hopefully, we will win it."
Of course, his parents, Andrea and Marek, were also thrilled to see Zadina score.
"They texted me they are so proud of me and it was pretty nice to see," Zadina said. "It's awesome."
Now Zadina would like to get a goal in front of the home fans.
"Hundred percent," Zadina said. "I just want to get a win, that's my goal right now, to get a win with the Wings this season. We'll see."
It's unfortunate that Zadina joined the Wings in the middle of this slide but he is trying not to let it affect him.
"I don't know, it's tough to say, they weren't winning like we were in Grand Rapids but it's almost same team, so I just came here to help win some games," Zadina said. "I just want to win the next game."
HOWARD GETS UP FOR THE RANGERS: In a perfect NHL world, if Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard could pick one team to face every game, it would be the New York Rangers.
Howard, who will get the start versus the Rangers Thursday at Little Caesars Arena, has faced the Rangers 14 times in his career and his numbers are astounding.
The upstate New York native is 8-3-3 against his hometown team, with a 1.75 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage.
Usually, Howard is pitted against Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who has put up some impressive numbers against the Red Wings.
Lundqvist is 7-4-5 versus the Red Wings with a 2.01 goals-against average, a .935 save percentage and has shut out the Wings four times.
"They've had some unbelievable battles against each other. It's been awesome," Blashill said. "Jimmy's played great against the Rangers. I hope he can play great again tonight. They're playing real hard. They're playing real aggressive. This will be a hard game, like every game is in this league."
Blashill has been encouraged by his team's response since the 8-1 Montreal defeat, but he wants to see his team continue to progress.
"I thought we took a real step in the right direction against Colorado. I didn't like us at all, obviously, against Montreal. I didn't love us against Arizona. I liked our start and after we got down, I didn't love our game after that. I thought against Colorado, we weren't perfect and we weren't as good as we want to be, but we were much better on our forecheck, we were much better on our hound, we were much better on our track. We gave up less big-time chances. I thought they earned some real chances, especially that top line, but I liked us a lot better.
"So, we took a step in the right direction. Our job tonight is to make sure we take another step in the right direction, both as a group and as individuals."