DETROIT -- Stephen Weiss is ready to play, which means the Red Wings will have some decisions to make.
"I'm real excited," Weiss said after Monday's practice. "Obviously, you don't want to miss this many games but that's the way it goes sometimes with injuries. It's tough to watch these last few at home and I'm really looking forward to hopefully getting one in before (the break)."
Weiss left the game with a shoulder injury Dec. 12 against the Florida Panthers after a hit from Sean Bergenheim sent him awkwardly into the boards.
Weiss has missed the last six games, in which the Wings have gone 0-2-4.
"Well, we need to score some goals," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "It's well noted in this stretch of six games I don't think we've played poorly, but you can't keep saying that. You have to win games. We don't score. We directed 71 shots at their net (Sunday) night and we don't score. So we have to find a way to score goals. Maybe Weisser can do that. He was doing that for us before (he was injured). Maybe he gets another opportunity and gets going."
Weiss has four goals and six assists in 11 games this season.
"He was playing really well before he got hurt so he's another key offensive threat for us," Justin Abdelkader said. "We're obviously struggling to score goals so he can only help."
Weiss said it's just the way things go sometimes when close games don't go your way.
"It's funny, when you're scoring things are just going in and all the sudden it can just turn on you in an instant," Weiss said. "You feel like you're doing the same type of things but the puck's not going in. So just got to be mentally strong and not think about it too much. The more you think about it the tighter you hold the stick. Sometimes you just got to let it rip. Easier said than done when things are going well. When you're in these types of stretches it becomes a little more difficult."
Abdelkader knows what Weiss is going through, having just returned from a shoulder injury himself.
Abdelkader said Weiss hasn't been out too long, which should help.
"As you get over a week into two weeks, I think as far as conditioning and getting back into the swing of things, it's a little harder," Abdelkader said. "But I think he skated good out there. He might be a little tentative at first. I know he has his strength back and he's feeling better. Just go out and do what he's capable of doing. He plays a little different style of game than me so it'll be different that way, but I think he'll be fine. He looks good, he's skating well. I don't think it'll be too much of a transition getting back into things."
In order to activate Weiss, the Wings will have to either send goaltender Thomas McCollum back to the Grand Rapids (AHL) Griffins or place goaltender Jimmy Howard on short-term injured reserve.
HOWARD PRACTICES A LITTLE
Howard came out of Friday's game against the New York Islanders after just one period.
"I tweaked my groin the other night in the first period of the game, just trying to be cautious with it," Howard said.
Howard did practice some Monday but wasn't sure if he could play Tuesday against Buffalo.
"There's a chance, but I don't know," Howard said. "I'll probably have to talk a little bit more to (trainers) Piet (Van Zant) and Russ (Baumann) to see what's best for myself and for the team."
Babcock didn't rule it out.
"I don't know if he's cleared (Tuesday) to go or not," Howard said. "I was surprised he was out there on his own then I was surprised he was in the net. I gave him the boot out of the one net to say are you starting (Tuesday). We'll know (Tuesday) morning."
Howard said when he was younger, he might have to play through it but wants to be smart about it these days.
"It's responded every single day with treatments," Howard said. "It felt good out there on the ice (Monday) so hopefully (Tuesday) another good work day and you never know."
SABRES ON THE UPSWING
The Buffalo Sabres may be second to last in the Eastern Conference but they've been better recently, going 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
"They've been really hot as of late," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "They struggled there in the beginning, but it seems like they got some pieces together. They've been playing some very good hockey and winning a lot of games. So they're back in it."
The last time the Wings played the Sabres was in Buffalo on Nov. 2, a game the Wings lost 3-2 in a shootout.
"They gave everyone a tough game," Babcock said. "They win too much. Everyone was talking about (Connor) McDavid was going there or (Jack) Eichel was going there (in the draft) . It doesn't look like either one is going there.
"Those guys play hard. They're organized and check real well. They make hard on you. They made it hard on Boston (Sunday) night. When you're not scoring like we are, everyone is hard. So let's get ready like we did (Sunday) night for 60 minutes and eventually everything is going to turn."
It's the last game before the three-day Christmas break, so the Wings want to make sure they keep their focus.
"It's a big game for us moving into the break," Abdelkader said. "You look at our division, it's really tight right now, and our conference. We gotta find a way to get two points. Enough of one point, overtime, shootout loss. We gotta focus on playing well, playing like we did last game and find a way to get some goals. It would be nice to get some right away and kind of relax."
***If multimedia does not appear right away, please click refresh***
