Notes: While not a long-term injury, Larkin expected to miss more time

MONTREAL -- The Detroit Red Wings will have to find a way to win without center Dylan Larkin for the time being.
Larkin, who has missed the last three games with a neck strain, saw a specialist in New York Monday.

"Right now it looks like just a soft tissue issue," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said after the morning skate at the Bell Centre. "From a long-term prognosis, that's great. I don't think there's anything major wrong structurally. Until he's pain-free and has full range of motion, he will not play.
"I can't tell you when that's gonna be, but it's not tonight."
Larkin has 27 goals among his 62 points in 65 games, leading the team in both goals and points.
In his absence, Blashill has moved Andreas Athanasiou to the top line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha.
ZADINA IN MONTREAL: Because the Montreal Canadiens held an optional morning skate in Brossard, there was not the usual crowd in the Wings dressing room Tuesday morning.
But there were still quite a few people who wanted to talk to rookie Filip Zadina.
It is Zadina's first time playing the Canadiens at Montreal's Bell Centre.

After the Wings took Zadina sixth overall in last summer's NHL Entry Draft, Zadina famously promised to "fill their nets with pucks," referring to the teams that passed on him.
"Yeah, I said that I'm still standing behind what I said," Zadina said. "It's going to be special if I will score, but we're just focusing right now to win the game because we didn't win too many games right now. So, we just want to prepare ourselves for a hard game and for a win tonight."
Blashill said he never entertained the thought of not playing Zadina in Montreal as they want him to play his nine games consecutively before returning to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.
"I'm actually hoping he fills the net," Blashill said. "At the end of the day, I think that's more of a long-term thing than a singular game. I know he played against them once already but I think it's a long-term thing. I think he was just stating in an 18-year-old, English-not-your-first-language way of saying, 'I'm gonna be a really good player and I'm gonna do everything I can to make people that didn't pick me pay.' And I hope he does that. But I think that's way more of a long-term approach than anything else.
"Filip Zadina has got lots of maturity to him. He can handle this situation. It's a great test for him. I think playing on the road is a great test in a building like this for a young guy to keep making the progress that we want him to make, so a year from now or whenever that time is, he's ready to do the things that he talked about."
The notoriously loud crowd at the Bell Centre might have a special greeting for Zadina but he's not worried about it.
"It's not going to bother me," he said. "I'm just going to focus on my game and play hockey."

MEMORIES OF MONTREAL: Although the losing streak is not as long as the one against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Wings have not had much success against the Canadiens.
On Feb. 26 in Detroit, the Canadiens embarrassed the Wings, 8-1.
"It's huge game against Habs," Zadina said. "Last game we played them we lost a lot so it's going to be huge game for us as a team. We got to prove we're a better team than we were. It's going to be fun."
Montreal has won its last eight games against Detroit, more than a few of those in blowout fashion like the last game.
"We've got our butts kicked pretty good by this team, so should we be motivated? Is there extra motivation?" Blashill said. "If you're human, there's probably a little extra motivation in the sense that we've certainly got our butts kicked by them a number of times, so let's go out and make sure we put our best foot forward.
"We're gonna have to compete like crazy tonight. Guys are gonna have to, as I said the other night, we need everybody playing as close to their A game as possible. We can't afford to have guys playing their B or C game. So we gotta make sure we play at that high, high level, everybody playing at that high level."
Blashill confirmed that Jonathan Bernier would start against the Canadiens, his hometown team.
"He's a big-time pro, he's worked his tail off all year, he works hard at his game, it's been a hard year for him in the sense of results," Blashill said. "I think he's played better hockey than maybe the record or the stats but he's done a good job of continuing to fight like crazy to be the very best he can every night. I got tons of respect for him as a person, tons of respect for him as a pro."
In 16 career games against Montreal, Bernier is 1-10-3 with a 3.41 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.
That win came Jan. 18, 2014, a 5-3 victory in Toronto when Bernier was a member of the Maple Leafs.
At the other end of the ice, Carey Price's next win will move him past Jacques Plante into sole possession of first place for most wins by a goalie in franchise history. Price currently has 314 wins.
"He's a hell of a goalie, has been for a long time," Blashill said. "As a former bad goalie, I admire the way that he plays the position. I think he keeps it … he's efficient in his movement. Pucks stick to him. He makes big saves at big moments, when he plays that efficient style that allows him to have a real high save percentage year in and year out. So, he's one of the best certainly I've seen and I think he'll go down as that when all is said and done."
In 19 career games against Detroit, Price is 14-4-1 with a 1.93 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and two shutouts.