Notes: Larkin out with strained oblique, could miss 1-2 weeks

OTTAWA -- When Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin grabbed his right side during overtime Friday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, it didn't look good.
As it turns out, it wasn't.

"He's got a strained oblique," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said before the game. "He'll be out tonight. We'll say 1-2 weeks but really one week is our next game at home against Vegas (Thursday). There's a potential for that, we don't know. We'll take the progress day by day and see how he goes."
It's a big loss in that Larkin has been the team's No. 1 center all season, leading the Wings in goals with 22, points with 49 and ice time at 21:54, in addition to his line frequently matching up against the other teams' top lines.
"It depends on the extent to which the other guys, how well everybody else plays," Blashill said. "I've said this lots, when you lose guys, you feel it way more if guys don't step up. When guys step up and play great hockey, then you don't feel those losses as much. We got a number of forwards that, I think on a consistent basis, would like more ice time, they'll get more tonight. Let's go out and do the job."

Larkin was centering Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist and Blashill said Andreas Athanasiou, who had been playing on Luke Glendening's wing along with Darren Helm, will move up and center that line.
Athanasiou is second on the team in goals with 17. He is 17th in ice time at 16:10 so this will afford him an opportunity to play more.
Against the Maple Leafs, Athanasiou had three assists, giving him five assists in his last two games.
Because the Wings are already missing Tyler Bertuzzi, out for at least the weekend with an upper-body injury, and Michael Rasmussen, who is with the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint, Luke Witkowski will move into the lineup.
For the most part, that leaves the Wings with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, although Witkowski is versatile.
"He can play forward, too, so we'll play with it as we go," Blashill said.
Blashill said Jonathan Bernier will play against the Ottawa Senators as the Wings complete the back-to-back set.
In seven career games against the Senators, Bernier is 3-3-0 with a 2.64 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.
CHALLENGE OF SENATORS: Although the Senators are 19-27-5 overall, they are 12-10-4 at home.
They have talented forwards like Matt Duchene, who has 21 goals and 27 assists in just 42 games, and Mark Stone, who has 22 goals and 29 assists in 51 games.
"They're a high, high-scoring team and their D lead the league in goals scored," Blashill said. "So you'd better do an unreal job of accounting for the D both in the D zone and you'd better do an unreal job on the track in accounting for the D. You can't stop for a second coming back. As a forward, our F1 and F2 coming back out of our offensive zone better do a good job reloading. You can't give them anything easy, you got to find a way to earn your offense."
Defenseman Thomas Chabot, 22, who was in San Jose for the All-Star Game, has 10 goals, 29 assists and is even in 43 games.
The Senators have also been good with the man-advantage, ranking 10th overall at 21.4 percent and seventh at home at 24.7 percent.
Stone leads the Senators with 14 power-play points while Colin White leads the team with five power-play goals.
MILESTONE ALERT: Forward Darren Helm will skate in his 600th career game tonight.