Notes: Howard out 4-6 weeks; Coreau gets his shot

SUNRISE, FLA. - It has not been a good year for Red Wings' knees and that trend continued Friday.
An MRI performed in Michigan revealed that goaltender Jimmy Howard has an MCL sprain and he will miss four to six weeks.

"First of all, really too bad for him," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "That's the one thing that I always look at is certainly for the individual player it's a tough, tough thing. I think he really worked hard to put himself in a real good position. He's obviously had an excellent good start and so it's hard to then get injured and be out like that. He's been injured twice now. Really weird, this one totally not preventable in his aspect. It's unfortunate."
Howard was injured at 5:39 of the second period in Tuesday's game in Tampa when forward Erik Condra ran into Howard and Wings defenseman Nick Jensen landed on Howard while trying to get Condra out.
Howard appeared to be in a lot of pain and had to be helped off the ice.
The bad luck with knees started with captain Henrik Zetterberg hurting his knee during offseason workouts and Niklas Kronwall missing the first 11 games of the season due to chronic knee problems.
Currently, both Brendan Smith and Justin Abdelkader are on injured reserve with knee injuries and Andreas Athanasiou just returned after missing 12 games with a knee injury.
In the good news department, both Smith and Abdelkader have progressed to skating with the team and could return sometime after Christmas.
COREAU'S CHANCE: The Wings recalled goaltender Jared Coreau from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins on Wednesday and Coreau didn't have to wait long for his opportunity.
Blashill said Coreau will start against the Florida Panthers tonight.
"I think we've got three very, very good goalies in our organization," Blashill said. "Obviously one of them is not available and we decided to give Jared a shot here tonight. We think he can give us elite goaltending. I've said that from the onset and I think he can give us elite goaltending tonight."
This will be Coreau's second career NHL start. His first came on Dec. 3 at Pittsburgh when he made 32 saves on 36 shots in a 5-3 loss.
"I thought the first couple periods he played real good and he kept us in the game," Blashill said. "And that's a hard team. We threw him to the fire and we knew we were throwing him to the fire but that's part of what this business is about. Ultimately I think he's got a good skills set. He's worked really, really hard to improve over the last number of years and we're hoping he goes out and gives a great performance."
Coreau said there were things he learned in that Penguins game that he'll take with him into tonight's contest.
"I think if you watch tonight, I'll be more calm," Coreau said after the team's optional morning skate. "Going down to Grand Rapids after I played that game, I felt like I had more time down there and I got to work on my game. Then the biggest thing is just closing out the game. If we're up 3-1, there's got to be a better third. That's just something that you got to do as an elite goalie at this level, it's something I got to work towards. You never want to give up a two-goal lead, even though a lot of people said, 'Oh, Pittsburgh, they're a good team.' Which they are but still, we're all professionals, it can be done."
Coreau, 25, is 11-6-0-1 with a 2.18 goals-against average and .924 save percentage in 17 games with the Griffins.
After returning to the Griffins following his start in Pittsburgh, Coreau allowed just six goals on 82 shots in four games.
"Guys can hide their shot really well up here," Coreau said. "I think guys down in the AHL can shoot just as hard, but their releases aren't as deceptive. So the biggest thing I noticed when I went down and started playing there is everything I could see, I was going to stop and I felt really under control, the most under control I felt so that's going to be my goal here over the next four to six weeks is just really control my game, stay within my crease and make the saves I have to, don't give up any soft goals. Just feel good about every game I get."
Coreau said rebound control will be of utmost importance.
"Second chances, you got guys that can bang home a rebound," Coreau said. "You look at (Pittsburgh's Sidney) Crosby, he can bat them out of the air. That's the difference between the AHL and the NHL too, your rebound control has to be good everywhere but when guys get a second opportunity at this level, I think most of the time it's finding its way in the back of the net."
Being with the Wings for an extended period of time will help Coreau's development and provide Petr Mrazek with competition.
"He spent some time last year and obviously a little bit this year but the more time you're here it just becomes more comfortable and more part of your routine," Blashill said. "So I think that's a positive. We've got some great leaders in the locker room and being around those is a positive. But he's coming here to compete. I think Jared has lots of belief in his ability and Petr has lots of belief in his ability and I think competition is an excellent thing."
JAGR ACHIEVES MILESTONE: Thursday night against the Boston Bruins, Jaromir Jagr assisted on the Panthers' only goal in a 3-1 loss.
That assist gave Jagr 1,888 points and sole possession of second in the NHL in all-time scoring, snapping the tie with Mark Messier.
"First of all, I was glad he broke it last night and he didn't do it against us," Blashill said. "Hey, he's an excellent player. He's still an excellent player. Somebody asked me how he's still so good. Well in this league you separate yourself in a few different ways. One of them is size. He's got big-time size and strength on the puck. He's able to protect it down low. He's still a load down low. Obviously with (Aleksander) Barkov, that's two guys that are real, real loads down low. They're hard to handle."
RESCHEDULED GAME: The NHL announced that the Wings' game at Carolina that was postponed this past Monday due to ice conditions will be made up on Monday, March 27.
That means the Wings will play three games in three nights: Sunday at home against Minnesota, Monday and Tuesday at Carolina.