Niklas Kronwall: Out 2-4 weeks with knee injury

The Detroit Red Wings answered a wildly successful six-game road trip by once again coming up short at Joe Louis Arena.

Minute MunchingWith Niklas Kronwall on the shelf for at least the next two weeks following knee surgery, others will be required to step up and play more minutes on the Detroit defense.

“Weve got eight or nine days at the All-Star break and rather than risk it happening and being a four-week or longer surgery because we let it slide, lets take care of it now and miss as minimal games as we can, ” Blashill said.

First-year coach Jeff Blashill has the club within three points of first-place Florida, but he’s not yet looking at it as a chase.

Alexey Marchenko, who had been a healthy scratch the last two games, will return to the lineup Wednesday against St. Louis. “It was something that’s been planned for a little bit here”, Blashill said. They’ve gone over in three of four and five of seven games with one being a push. “Thats been a real strength of the Red Wings for a number of years. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his team-leading 25th goal on Monday as St. Louis posted its fourth win in five outings with a 5-2 triumph over Pittsburgh. The Blues have been able to generate victories despite losing some of their top end offensive weapons and if they can sustain a moderate degree of success moving forward and add a piece at the deadline they will be in great shape come playoff time. “I think we’ve had chances and today they started falling”.

Dylan Larkin took Darren Helms spot on a line with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Tatar.

Originally it was thought that Miller would miss a matter of weeks with a torn meniscus.

“We werent sure initially what it was going to be, ” Blashill said. “I dont want to preclude anything, I dont know. Miller is a vital piece to Detroit’s penalty kill, which has suffered during his absence.