The Detroit Red Wings are set to embark on a road trip that will see them make stops in the nation’s capitol tomorrow against the Capitals, with another matchup in sunny Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
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Forward Filip Zadina, who has been absent since early February, will not be accompanying the team on their trip. He has been making appearances at practice, but has missed the last two sessions.
“Zadina is out through the weekend. He will not travel,” Blashill said. “He’ll stay off the ice today and we’ll see. He’ll go through physical therapy. If he can go on the ice tomorrow, he’ll go on the ice tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”
Before his injury, Zadina had put up eight goals with seven assists in 28 games, and was ranked sixth on the team in power play points.
“I think it was really unfortunate the timing of the injury because of the fact he was playing good hockey,” Blashill said. “I think he was gaining confidence at the NHL level. I think he was learning the tricks that he’s gonna need to learn to be successful. And then he got hurt. It looked like he was closer to coming back, and then he suffered a little bit of a different injury in a setback.
“I think everybody involved – him, our management team, our coaches – everybody wants to see him play as many games as possible before the end of the year. We’re hoping he can get back sooner than later. Will it hurt him? It doesn’t help him. How much it hurts him is probably up to him but it doesn’t help him. But he’s gotta make sure he comes back mentally tough and ready to play great hockey when he gets back.”
Meanwhile, forward Sam Gagner will also not play this weekend. He took several hits during last night’s loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, including a nasty hit from behind.
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“Gagner’s out for tomorrow night,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill told reporters at Little Caesars Arena Wednesday. “He’s out for tomorrow night, being evaluated further today. I don’t know the answer for Saturday yet but he’s definitely out for tomorrow night.”
Tomorrow’s game against the Capitals will face-off just after 7:00 PM EST.
– – Quotes via Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com Link– –
