The Red Wings' captain and leading scorer was a late scratch on Sunday against the Florida Panthers, the result of a heavy spill he took when he flipped over Montreal's Alexei Emelin in the opening frame of Detroit's 4-1 win over the Canadiens on Friday night - Zetterberg took a couple of shifts off after the spill but returned to the lineup in the second period.
Coach Mike Babcock confirmed that the issue had to do with his back, but wouldn't speculate as to whether it was related to his previous ailment. "I just know it's a back thing." Babcock said in response to media inquiry, "So we'll see him tomorrow and know more tomorrow."
In the 11 games that Zetterberg missed previously, the Red Wings were a dismal 3-6-2 and dropped out of the conversation for leadership of the Atlantic Division.
With Zetterberg joining centerman Pavel Datsyuk on the shelf, the Red Wings are without their top two points leaders - the left winger leading the team with 16 goals and 28 helpers in 40 games while Datsyuk has 15 goals and 17 dimes in 35 games.
Centerman Johan Franzen returned to the lineup after dealing with a concussion and though Babcock would have prefered to ease him back into action on the wing, he instead took Zetterberg's place between Gustav Nyquist and Justin Abdelkader on the Red Wings' top line.
"When you're a winger and you got go in the middle it's great when you've played and you got tempo and you're in the kind of game shape you want to be. But that's part of life. Hopefully Zetterberg will be ready for the next game. If he's not, we'll go with the guys we got."
Detroit currently holds down the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference and their next match is on Tuesday at Philadelphia.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/01/red-wings-zetterberg-on-shelf-again.html
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