Notes: Brendan Smith ready to return against Sabres

DETROIT - The Red Wings are slowly getting back some of their injured players.
Defenseman Brendan Smith said he is ready to return tonight against the Buffalo Sabres after missing the last 12 games.

Wings coach Jeff Blashill said final lineup decisions will be made after warmups.
"I'm really excited to get back in," Smith said. "It seems like it's been a long time. I just want to help out the boys as best I can and try to get this train moving back in the right direction. We're always looking for playoff berths so that's what we've got to shoot for and hopefully I can help the boys and play my game and kind of gear us in the direction."
Smith was injured Nov. 26 when Montreal forward Phillip Danault's knee collided with Smith's right knee.
"I guess maybe he lost the puck and he kind of came right into the side of my leg and it kind of, I guess went the wrong way," Smith said. "Just those things happen, those things happen in sports, those freak incidents and weird instance where that split second is all it needs."
The original estimate was three to five weeks so Smith is right on schedule.
"I feel good," Smith said. "I'm really happy with how I've recovered and how quick it's been. That injury could easily have been six weeks so I'm happy to be, I guess, on schedule or ahead of schedule. I feel good. I just want to go out there and see if all the other stuff is still back to normal. Stamina, you never really get your game shape until you're in the game. So there's things like that, your hands and everything else."
In Tuesday's morning skate, Smith was paired with Niklas Kronwall, which should help in his first game back.
"You've got to play simple," Smith said. "But I got to as well play my game and help out the team. For sure, easy pass. I think I'll be playing with Kronwall mostly tonight so I'm going to have to lean on him a little bit, give him the puck a little bit more just to help myself get into the game. Big hit always helps. Good play. Just things like that. Try to get that momentum rolling and get yourself into the game."
JENSEN SETTLING IN: Nick Jensen was paired again with Danny DeKeyser in the morning skate.
"I thought Jense played excellent against Florida," Blashill said. "I thought he did a good job of doing what he does well and that's breaking the puck out, because he's a good skater, getting us out of our zone because of that. I thought he's done a good job of managing his game, when he's had opportunities to go tape to tape he went tape to tape. If not, he put the puck into space where guys were flowing to, to put pressure on the other team's D. So I think overall he's done a good job."
Jensen says his first two NHL games have helped his development.
"I've never really played at a pace that fast with guys that are that good," Jensen said. "I said before that I was keeping it simple out there and I stuck to that the whole time. I think that helped limit turnovers, that's the biggest thing at this level. You turn the puck over, the guys are so good they're going to come down and have a scoring chance. That was a good learning point. Limiting turnovers is a good learning point for me in developing and as I make more plays like that I get more confidence and hopefully start to make a little better plays, a little more poised plays instead of chipping the puck out of the zone every time I have to."
Jensen said playing with DeKeyser is very helpful.
"He's a great skater, he's big out there, he's really smart and he talks a lot, that's one of the biggest parts," Jensen said. "He's talking to me the whole time, sometimes I don't even have to look to see where he is because he's talking to me, letting me know where I should put the puck. You got guys coming on you full speed, that's so huge for me to make the right play when he's talking to me."
Jensen said he's looking forward to his first regular-season game at Joe Louis Arena.
"I know I played exhibition but it's not really the same environment," Jensen said. "It should be fun and good experience for me."
SABRES IN TOWN: IN the current NHL standings, the Wings are in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with 34 points in 34 games.
The Sabres are eighth with 32 points in 33 games.
While Jack Eichel has returned after missing the first 21 games of the season with a high ankle sprain, now the Sabres will be without Ryan O'Reilly, who underwent an appendectomy and is expected to miss two to three weeks.
"Every team in this league has lots of highly skilled guys, especially Buffalo - young, fast, high-energy guys," Jensen said. "It's about containing them, limiting their scoring chances, not giving them anything easy because they thrive off chances. So we just can't give them any easy chances, especially guys like Eichel."
Eichel has five goals and three assists in 12 games.
Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen leads the Sabres with 23 points, followed by Kyle Okposo with 22.
RESCHEDULED GAME: The game that the Wings were supposed to play Dec. 19 at Carolina has been rescheduled for March 27.
The game was postponed because of an issue with the cooling system, which caused the ice to be not cold enough for them to play.
That means the Wings will play three games in a row, March 26 at home against the Minnesota Wild, then March 27 and 28 at Carolina.
"It sucks that you have to play three in a row but at the same time, it's good that we didn't play that game there because it could have been dangerous, people could have gotten hurt just with that ice," Smith said. "It's maybe a blessing in disguise in that kind of sense."
The good part is that the Wings will just have to make one trip to Carolina.
"Honestly, I thought it was one of the best scenarios that we could have for us," Blashill said. "It's three in a row but I think we'll be able to move the Sunday game to an earlier time - I don't know if that's done or not. It makes for no more travel. I think the hardest part of the league is travel, Playing three games in a row, lots of times we play, practice hard, play. It's not a whole lot different than that. I've certainly been part of lots of threes in three in the American League and they're way harder than the one we're going to face. When you're playing in Grand Rapids and then you go to Milwaukee and then Chicago or Des Moines, that's a harder trip than what we're going to face. So there's no more travel. It'll be our third and three, it'll be Carolina's two in two. Let's go and win hockey games."