Posted by Scott Burnside
DETROIT -- Having Jonathan Ericsson back in the lineup after he had an emergency appendectomy last week will give Detroit coach Mike Babcock some much-needed flexibility as the Red Wings try to keep Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby under wraps.
"He just gives us, the way their centers play 20 minutes a game, you know, basically you need three sets of D to match up against them," Babcock said.
Babcock will use Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart or Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski against Malkin or Crosby's lines.
Crosby and Malkin are tied for the playoff scoring lead with 28 points each. Crosby also leads all playoff performers with 14 goals, while Malkin had a six-game multipoint streak snapped in the final game of the Eastern Conference finals.
What about Datsyuk?
As far as Pavel Datsyuk's prognosis, Babcock said the team's medical staff has been working on the Hart Trophy candidate's foot, but it hasn't responded the way they'd hoped.
"When he first gets on the ice, especially in the morning, he's really stiff to get his foot going," Babcock said. "It takes him a bit to get going. Now, we haven't tested it in a game-time situation where you get there and you get warmed up and you do all that stuff. But we've tried a number of things and it hasn't responded the way we first anticipated.
"Our medical people, obviously, are trying everything they can, and he's trying what he can. So he'll be back as soon as he can. That's all I can tell you."
Hockey and the community
Babcock had a big-picture view of how important the Wings' playoff success this spring is to a community that has been hit hard by recession.
"I said to [GM] Kenny Holland before the end of the Ducks series that I thought it was very important that we won for the city of Detroit and for Michigan just because of that. I know tons of families that have lost their jobs and are losing their homes," Babcock said.
"My kids are all in sports and there's two or three people on their teams losing jobs. And I'm not talking just your run-of-the-mill jobs. I'm talking guys that have worked for companies for 20 years, been engineers and don't have jobs and are losing their homes. We know one family that's moving out of their home this weekend. That's going on all over Michigan, obviously.
"So a lot of those people aren't going to be at this game," Babcock said. "They obviously can't afford to come, but they'll be at home watching TV tonight, and we'll do our part."
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
