Dana Wakiji
FOX Sports Detroit
Detroit -- It's that time of year again, time for the Wings to head out to Western Canada.
Captain Nick Lidstrom couldn't even count the number of times he has made one of these trips in his 19-year career.
"I've been out there many times," Lidstrom said. "I don't know how many games I have against the teams out there. It's always a challenge to go out to western Canada, playing out there. They're very knowledgeable, the crowd is very knowledgeable. They know a lot about hockey so it's a little different atmosphere when you go out west."
The Wings start in Calgary on Wednesday and then play back-to-back games in Edmonton and Vancouver on Friday and Saturday.
Unlike last season when they started their Olympic-compressed schedule in Stockholm, Sweden, the pace has been less frantic this year.
"I don't think it's that bad to go on the road now," Henrik Zetterberg said. "We've been home a lot and I think we're looking forward to going on the road for a bit and play some road games. We know we have six at home after so we're looking forward to that too."
The Calgary Flames were just in Detroit, losing 4-2 on Oct. 21.
"We're going into Calgary and they'll be a little fired up, they've dropped two in a row in there," coach Mike Babcock said. "They felt when they left here they had played better than we did in our building when we won so we know that we're going to have to play real well in there. The rest of the trip follows that."
If they have time, the Wings usually try to catch a movie when they're on a road trip.
"Not sure which one we're going to be seeing here," Lidstrom said. "Some of the guys recommended 'Jackass' but I don't know if we're going to go see that or not."
One thing's for sure. If they decide to see a scary movie, you can count goaltender Jimmy Howard out.
"No, not a chance," Howard said. "I'm not much of a scary movie-type guy."
Howard set to return
While Howard won't be seeing any scary movies, Babcock said he will return to the net Wednesday in Calgary for the first time since beating the Anaheim Ducks Oct. 23.
Howard was supposed to play against Phoenix last Thursday but suffered back spasms.
He went out 20 minutes before practice Monday to get warmed up with goaltending coach Jim Bedard and pronounced himself ready.
"No pain in my lower back so it's nice to get back out there," Howard said. "I'm pretty certain that I'll be fine. The only thing is the plane ride. Other than that, it should be OK. I probably won't be sitting as much, that's for sure."
Osgood out for now
It's fortunate that Howard has recovered because now it's Chris Osgood's turn to miss some time.
Osgood left practice early Monday.
"Ozzie left with groin soreness and he's being evaluated," Babcock said. "So when I talk about groins normally, that means day-to-day and then two weeks later we talk about it again. For a goalie, it usually means day-to-day and three weeks later we talk about it so that's what I know."
Although Joey MacDonald will travel with the team -- as will Osgood -- Babcock said he's not worried about overworking Howard.
"Howie's a young guy, probably play back-to-back," Babcock said. "But we'll see."
Rafalski recovering
Babcock was happy to see veteran defenseman Brian Rafalski skate for about 15 minutes Monday.
Rafalski, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Oct. 12, will make the trip with the team but is not expected to play until next Monday at the earliest.
"It's getting better every day," Rafalski said. "The soreness is going away, just getting the strength and the stability around it."
Rafalski said he's going on the trip so they can monitor his progress and assist him in getting a knee brace that works for him.
Ericsson to return
Along with Howard, defenseman Jonathan Ericsson is set to return Wednesday. Ericsson has been out since the first game of the season Oct. 8, when he left with back spasms.
"It's frustrating, especially for such a small thing, it just happened when I was skating," Ericsson said. "It was frustrating but now I'm back at it again and hopefully I can stay in."
With Ericsson's return, that left Doug Janik as the odd man out. Babcock said Janik was being reassigned to Grand Rapids.
"I definitely enjoyed my time here," Janik said. "I had a lot of fun. The guys are always so great here and I get treated so well when I come up. Hopefully I'll be back again soon."
Janik was a minus-2 and had no points in his seven games with the Wings.
Abdelkader remains in the lineup
Babcock indicated that Justin Abdelkader, who made his season debut in Saturday's 5-2 victory over Nashville, will remain in the lineup.
Although Babcock did not say who would be scratched, Jiri Hudler, who was scratched Saturday, is the most likely candidate.
Nov. 1, 2010
