Notes: Wings face Hurricanes coming off their bye and without Aho

DETROIT -- The Red Wings certainly know what the Carolina Hurricanes are going through.
The Wings were a bit sluggish when they came off of their five-day bye in Pittsburgh Jan. 13, losing 4-1.

They felt better the following day in Chicago when they had their legs a bit more, earning a 4-0 victory.
"They will come ready for sure," Tomas Tatar said. "Our game, when we tried to play Pitt, we were talking about the same thing, unfortunately, we didn't play really good. We had lot of power plays when we could have turned the game around, but unfortunately we didn't and they did. They will probably work on power plays, they will bet on that. It's not easy to come off the break, it's going to be a tough game for sure. There's no excuse for us."
There's no excuse but the Wings are still expecting a challenge from the Hurricanes.
"Their mentality is going to be to come out hard," Mike Green said. "Sometimes teams that come off the bye play a really simple game and it makes it tough, so we'll make sure that we're prepared."
Hurricanes coach Bill Peters, a former Detroit assistant coach, said there's no magic potion for his team.
"Nobody's been able to crack that code," Peters said. "We track it and we talk about it. Barry Trotz and Ken Hitchcock are on the competition committee, we just played Washington and I just talked to Trotzie about it, showed him a document about who played who coming out of the bye. So when you're playing a team coming out of the bye, both coming off four or five days off, you're in the same boat. The records, if you look at them, of the teams that are playing and the teams that aren't, there's a distinct advantage. When you talk to coaches, 'Oh, we skated better in game two, better in game three and then we're back.' That's the reality of it.
"There's no secrets, there's a lot of worry and concern, especially in the first 10 minutes, get everybody out there, get everybody going again. Then what you have to do is you have to get physically engaged again. You haven't had any contact, any pushing and shoving, any resistance for five days. That's not normal for us. We're used to doing that every day or every other day. So you got to get your head wrapped around how you got to play and you got to build a game."
Although the team that has been playing generally has the advantage, Wings coach Jeff Blashill said that's not always the case.
"I just think sometimes timing, sometimes just you might lose some of the habits that you have throughout the season," Blashill said. "I think you're susceptible sometimes to injuries. We came out of that bye game, not necessarily (Darren) Helm's, there wasn't much you could do about that one but maybe Abby's (Justin Abdelkader's). I also think we won our game coming out of the bye last year when we were off and the other team was playing. My concern is more on the Red Wings."
An additional challenge for the Hurricanes is that they'll be without their leading scorer, Sebastian Aho.
Aho leads Carolina in goals with 16 and points with 37.
"I just saw him the other day, multiple injuries, obviously, with the lower body and the concussion," Peters said. "Which one heals first, I'm not sure. Then they both obviously have to heal before he gets back. So there's no real timeline there."
The Wings believe they have to keep the focus on themselves, not on what the Hurricanes are missing.
"You don't want to look too much at the their lineup," Tatar said. "They're playing good hockey. Obviously, it's a big loss for them, so hopefully the kid will be healthy soon. That was a pretty hard hit he took. We have to focus on ourselves and our game."
According to reporters that cover the Hurricanes, Elias Lindholm took Aho's spot on the line with Jordan Staal and Teuvo Teravainen during the team's practice Friday at the BELFOR Training Center.
Peters is expecting a tough challenge from the Wings.
"They're playing well right now," Peters said. "I think they're playing real well. In the pre-scouts that we watched, obviously a lot of speed. They have some injuries in their lineup, too, with Helmer being out, it takes one of their quicker guys out of the lineup. (Dylan) Larkin's playing with a lot of pace, so is (Andreas) Athanasiou, so it looks like they're finding their game."
LINEUP CHANGE: Defenseman Nick Jensen will miss his first game of the season tonight.
Not because of injury but because the Wings are going to give Xavier Ouellet another opportunity.
"I think both guys are good hockey players and Jense has got the nod much more than X has," Blashill said. "But I don't think there's huge separation between those hockey players, I think they're both good players, So we're giving X the nod tonight. When X plays his best, he manages his game really well and he can be a real good outlet passer so we're hoping he does that for us tonight. He can also play his off side so I think that's important."
Jensen has eight assists and is minus-8 in 44 games this season while Ouellet has four assists and is minus-1 in 32 games.
LATEST ON ABDELKADER, HELM: The Wings lost both Abdelkader and Helm to lower-body injuries in that Pittsburgh game.
"I'd say Abby's a little bit closer than Helmer," Blashill said. "I think there's some hope on Abby before the All-Star break. I don't think with Helmer it'll be 'til after the All-Star break."
PETERS ON LCA: Peters knew Joe Louis Arena well, having served as an assistant coach on Mike Babcock's staff for three seasons.
He's getting his first look at Little Caesars Arena this weekend.
"I don't know how to get around it, it's so big," Peters said. "It looks beautiful though. I've heard nothing but good things about it. I haven't made it up onto the concourse yet and if I don't do that here today, I'll probably do that on our next trip into Detroit but it looks like it's a fantastic building, well done, and the Red Wings and the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan deserve it."