Red Wings Zidlicky Will Miss Game 7 With Concussion
By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak
CBS DETROIT - Veteran defenseman Marek Zidlicky, whom the Detroit Red Wings acquired at the trade deadline last month, will miss Game 7 of the team's first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team announced Wednesday that Zidlicky suffered a concussion in Game 6.
Zidlicky has seven goals and 27 assists this season, including three goals and eight assists in his 21 games for Detroit. Zidlicky will be one of two Red Wings defensemen absent for Game 7; Niklas Kronwall is serving a one-game suspension for a Game 6 hit on Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov.
Filling in for Kronwall and Zidlicky will be Alexey Marchenko and Jakub Kindl. The 23-year-old Marchenko has one goal and one assist in 13 games for Detroit this season, while the veteran Kindl has five goals and eight assists in 35 games for the Red Wings this season.
The series between Detroit and Tampa Bay has been a competitive one, which surprised some given the fact the Red Wings again had to fight to get into the playoffs while the Lightning finished the regular season as the highest-scoring team in the NHL.
Detroit could have ended the series with a win Monday night at Joe Louis Arena, but Tampa Bay bounced back from its loss in Game 5 and evened the series.
Just as the Red Wings did not lose heart after blowing a lead in Game 4 and losing that game, however, they were not daunted Monday night by having missed out on yet another chance to take a big step forward in the series. They were just focused on the next step.
"We're excited for the opportunity here that we have to go down there and win a game to win the series," Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist said. "It's going to be a great game."
