Injury Update: Soderblom, Mrazek Out, Petry Getting Up to Speed

Defenseman Jeff Petry has been like the car traveling at 65 miles per hour trying to merge onto a highway with traffic moving at 75 mph.

That seems to be how coach Todd McLellan sees where the veteran defenseman is at in his return to action after a lengthy injury absent.

“Tough, tough task for Petey,”  McLellan told the media after practice Monday. “His injury didn’t allow him to skate at all, and, you know, at his spot in his career and the number of games and miles on that body, skating is something that’s real important. And obviously he didn’t get to skate enough. We’re trying to get him going. ”

Even while trying to get up to speed, Petry is providing solid defensive play. After not playing for almost three months, Petry has been plus-four in his first three games back.  Tight defensive play is appreciated these days, especially going into tonight’s game against a St. Louis Blues team that has won nine games in a row.

“I liked his positioning, I liked his stick,” McLellan said. “I liked his thought process on defending. Even offensively, you could see he was using his shot. It’s just the skating part that will have to come. We don’t have time. Our whole team doesn’t have time. So we take what we can get and hope it gets better every day.”

Mrazek, Soderblom Stay Home

Meanwhile, the Red Wings continue to deal with injuries.  Forward Elmer Soderblom and goalie Petr Mrazek made the trip to St. Louis.

“(Mrazek’s) going to start skating over the next couple days,” McLellan said. “But that should give you a pretty good indication he’s not going to play for a little while.”

It’s starting to feel as if Cam Talbot will be carrying the load as Detroit makes its final push to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons. He won’t be able to play all of the final nine games, but it seems likely he will play most of them.

“I thought Talbs was quite good the other night against Boston,” McLellan said. “There wasn’t a lot of action, but, you know, when we went back and looked at some of the chances, you gotta make a couple 10 bellers, not just the one at the end, to. To keep us where we were. And I think when we left that game, we felt confident about him and that position.”

Soderblom has missed the last three games with an unspecified injury.

“Day to Day,” McLellan said. “He put his equipment on (Monday) and skated a little bit. So good sign.”