Notes: Mike Green to miss three to five weeks

DETROIT - Arguably if there is one player the Red Wings could ill afford to lose for any significant period, it's All-Star defenseman Mike Green.
Unfortunately, Green will be out of the Wings lineup for the next three to five weeks with an undisclosed lower-body injury, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill announced after Friday's morning skate.

With Green out, the Wings have called up Filip Hronek from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins and sent Brian Lashoff back to Grand Rapids.
"Mike Green is out, I'm going to use the timetable 3-5 weeks. I think all those are always flexible. But right now, we're looking at 3-5 weeks for Mike Green," Blashill said. "We'll call Filip Hronek up. We're going to end up sending Brian Lashoff down, so that Lash can play.
"The reason we're making that switch is Fil's skill set obviously, is much more similar to Mike Green in terms of a skater, puck mover, potential power-play guy, although (Niklas) Kronwall will spend some time on the power play in Green's spot as well. So, we're going to make that switch. Johnny (Jonathan Ericsson) looks like he's going to play. And then Wade Megan is still out."
It is unclear when Green's injury occurred, but in Monday's 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Little Caesars Arena, L.A.'s Nikita Scherbak hit Green at 16:01 of the third period and he didn't play after the hit.
He did play the following night against the Capitals in Detroit's 6-2 loss at Washington. Green was a minus-1 and registered three shots in his 15:46 of ice time, far below his 21:56 season average.
Green was out for the Wings first nine games of the season with a virus and the Wings struggled. Detroit was 1-6-2 in their first nine games with little hope for a turnaround until Green returned to the Red Wings lineup.
Since his return, Detroit has compiled a 13-8-2 record, which has put the Wings back into playoff contention.
In 23 games, Green has 16 points, including three goals and leads the Wings at plus-10 and in ice time.
"I'll start with this - he's played excellent. Anytime a guy's playing excellent and gets hurt it's unfortunate for him and the team. But certainly, for all of us, because he was really grooving. I thought he was really playing well," Blashill said. "I thought our record has reflected that in the time he's spent with us, compared to the time he spent without us. That's unfortunate for sure.
"Now how much it hurts or doesn't hurt always depends on how the other guys play. Not just Filip but how the other five play. If they play great in his absence - if all six play great in his absence - you don't feel the loss nearly as much as if guys struggle.
"We're in a spot right now where we've got a number of injuries, similar to the beginning of the year. We need guys to step up and play close to 100 percent of their ability. If everybody plays close to 100 percent of their ability, we'll be totally fine. If guys have off days, or have their 'B' or 'C' games, then it's not good enough, because you don't have as many guys to rely on as you do when a Mike Green is in. But by no means is it a barrier to success. We just need guys to step up and play great hockey."
Hronek began the season with the Red Wings and played in six games. He had a goal (power play) and two assists, was a minus-2 and his ice time average was 19:12 per game.
As a Griffin this season, Hronek has begun to catch fire. In 20 games, he leads all Grand Rapids defensemen in points (5-13-18), including tying a franchise record with assists in eight straight games, totaling 12 points (4-8-12) over a career-best eight-game point streak from Nov. 23-Dec. 7.
"I think he's steadily progressed," Blashill said. "He's had a number of good games here. So, I think his progression's been good. There's certainly things that he can continue to get better at but what we need Fil to do is come up here, play with confidence. I thought early in the year, he struggled a little bit and he got overly hard on himself. That's a good quality and a bad quality. Being self-accountable (is) good, when it crossed the line to being too hard, sometimes that's bad. He just needs to come up here and play.
"He's what I'd call a hockey player. His game is probably even better than his skill set. He's not 6-4, he doesn't skate like the wind, but he's got a lot of hockey smarts and I also think he's a real competitor. Do the things you're really good at. I think he's an NHL player full-time, it's just a matter of when and hopefully it's right now."
When asked if Hronek is in tonight's Wings lineup against the Senators, Blashill said without any hesitation:
"He jumps in the lineup tonight."
WINGS AND SENATORS IN CONTENTION: Detroit and Ottawa were not expected to be in the playoff hunt this season since both clubs are in a rebuilding phase.
However, the Wings and Sens have exceeded expectations and each team is within reasonable striking distance of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Detroit, 14-14-4, has 32 points, while Ottawa, 13-15-4, has 30 points.
The Wings trail Montreal by five points for the final wild-card playoff berth and the Senators are seven points behind the Canadiens. All three teams have played 32 games.
"They're a good young team, we lost (2-1 in Ottawa), but this is a big game for us, we're both right there, it's almost a four-point game tonight, so we have to be ready," Tyler Bertuzzi said.
Certainly, the Red Wings would like to distance themselves from their divisional rival and a win against Ottawa would be a terrific start.
"The one thing I'd say first off more than anything else is the league is so extraordinarily close at a level that's never been seen probably before," Blashill said. "It just keeps getting tighter and tighter and tighter so when people look at teams that had bad years in terms of their records, they figure they're bad teams. There is no bad teams in the Eastern Conference, zero. There's teams with bad records, there's a difference there. A lot of factors go into that - health, confidence, getting on a roll, all those types of things.
"Ottawa's a good hockey team with some really good players. They're similar to us, they've got some injury issues. They're fighting through it. But they're a good hockey team with good players. It'll be two good teams playing tonight. You got to find a way to win."
Bertuzzi hopes the Wings' effort in the third period against the Capitals carries over into tonight's contest. Detroit entered the third period down 5-0 to the Caps, but they scored two third-period goals ( Dylan Larkin and Gustav Nyquist) and fired 16 shots to finish with 37 for the game.
"Obviously, it wasn't what we wanted, but I thought there was a lot of good things and a lot of bad, so we take the good things from it (the third period of the Washington game) and bring it to this new day and try and get two points tonight," Bertuzzi said. "(We didn't) get away from our game, we still got pucks deep. At that point you can kind and get lazy and try and do everything alone. We played better in the third and we stuck to it, we stuck to our identity and we're going to bring that tonight."
ERICSSON TO PLAY VERSUS OTTAWA:With Green on the shelf for several weeks, the Wings did receive some positive news when veteran defenseman Jonathan Ericsson deemed himself ready to go for tonight's game.
"Good. I'm good," Ericsson said. "I feel pretty good today so it's a matter of maintaining. I thought yesterday it was probably better for me to stay off (the ice). Today, I felt pretty good on the ice, we're talking to the trainers and doctors and coaches and kind of analyzing the situation and trying to do what's best for me personally and the team. Every situation is different."
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Ericsson has had a injury-filled season. He missed the first seven games with an upper-body ailment and from Nov. 3-23 he was out for nine games with another lower-body injury.
Ericsson turns 35 in March and is aware he needs to monitor his body closely, especially with the way the Wings schedule has wreaked havoc with recovery time.
"It's been a little tight schedule now, obviously when you play a back-to-back and it involves travel, too, it obviously limits the recovery time after a game," he said. "You have to get going, you want to get into the hotel as soon as possible. The recovery time is suffering a little bit. It's not optimal obviously.
"It's been a little few too many things for myself personally, injury-wise this year, but it's coincidences. I don't know, it's a tight schedule so you have to really take care of your body. It's not like we get younger either."