Notes: Howard in, Franzen out against Montreal Tuesday
DETROIT -- The Wings got good news on goaltender Jimmy Howard Monday, less so on Johan Franzen.
Howard, who was placed on 48-hour goaltender injured reserve with a sore groin, appeared fine in practice Monday.
"I practiced today, I assume I'm good to go," Howard said.
Coach Mike Babcock confirmed that Howard would start in Montreal Tuesday night.
Howard said he wasn't too concerned about it.
"What happened to me, the ice just gave out underneath my foot in Toronto there late in the game when I went to push across," Howard said. "So those things really can't do anything about it. It rebounded quickly so it was nice to see."
The Wings placed Franzen on 7-day injured reserve with a sore groin, retroactive to Saturday, which means Franzen will definitely miss the game in Montreal Tuesday and Thursday's home game against Pittsburgh.
Franzen could return Saturday when the Wings visit the Philadelphia Flyers.
Franzen, who had two goals but left Friday's game early with leg spasms, was a game-time scratch for Saturday night's game.
"I don't know what the scoop is there," Babcock said. "We talked about it. It's a groin. So that's usually 10 days."
PK PERFECT, PP WORK IN PROGRESS
Assistant coach Tony Granato's adjustments to the Wings' penalty kill have worked out well so far.
In five games, the Wings have not allowed a power-play goal, killing off all 17 opportunities.
"The penalty kill, we made some changes, obviously with a new coach and the aggressive nature of our penalty kill has been working so far," Luke Glendening said.
The power play, on the other hand, is ranked in the bottom third in the league, with just two goals in 21 opportunities.
"We've worked on it extensively a lot," Babcock said. "We had six quality scoring chances in the last game and no goals. So what happens over time when you don't score it starts to eat up on you a little bit. You get pressure. We get (Pavel Datsyuk) back and get her going here. We need to get the puck back more, we need to shoot more, we need to throw it in there a bit more and score some ugly goals to get it going."
Tomas Tatar, who had six shots on goal Saturday but nothing to show for it, is hopeful.
"I think we have lots of chances, we have to be a little calmer with the puck, try to put one in," Tatar said. "We just have to find a way to score goals. Maybe be a little more patient with the puck in the O-zone. We're in a good way, I think good things will happen."
Babcock said there have been signs that the power play is coming around.
"Early in the game last game the first two I didn't like," Babcock said. "Then I thought we had real quality chances. Tats had it home free a number of times, it didn't go in for him. I like the fact that Tats had all the chances and all the shots. Nesty (Andrej Nestrasil) made a nice play to (Tomas) Jurco right in the slot and he missed the net. We had multi opportunities that way and it didn't go in."
Both the Wings and Maple Leafs were 0-for-5 on the power play Saturday.
MONTREAL LEADS ATLANTIC
The Wings are catching the Montreal Canadiens at perhaps the wrong time.
The Canadiens have won their last two games, are 5-1-0 overall and lead the Atlantic Division with 10 points.
"They're a good team with good speed," Babcock said. "Last year when we got fast they still beat us twice down the stretch. They outscored us. They've got real good goaltending and find ways to score goals so we're going to have to handle them."
The Wings know that the Bell Centre can be an intimidating place to play.
"It's always fun, it's a loud building, maybe one of the loudest in the NHL," Tatar said. "Those Canadiens fans are crazy, which is fun to play. It's always a big game. Montreal is our rival, too. I'm looking forward to it."
The Wings hope to gain a little ground on the Canadiens as they did with the Maple Leafs over the weekend.
"Obviously their building is electric, they're a good team," Glendening said. "They've had a good start. We're going to have to go in and bring our best game, for sure. We've been playing well so we just gotta keep it going."
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