Darren-Helm-4-8-14

The Red Wings' Darren Helm scored 12 goals in just 42 games this season.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – It has been a while since Darren Helm appeared in a playoff game for the Detroit Red Wings. His coach and teammates haven’t forgotten how valuable he can be, especially this time of year.

“Huge difference,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “Helm is a bit of an engine for us, the way he plays, with the energy he brings. Stuff like that is contagious.”

The speedy center will play in his first postseason game in more than two years Friday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.

“He’s going to be extremely important, especially with his speed on the penalty kill, getting up ice, disrupting power plays,” goaltender Jimmy Howard said. “Just his speed is dangerous enough. Having him in the lineup just makes our top forward lines that much stronger.

“He can flat out fly, with or without the puck. With a team as big as Boston it’s going to be a key.”

Helm will center a line with Daniel Alfredsson and Tomas Jurco.

Helm’s most recent playoff game was on April 11, 2012, in Game 1 of the opening round at Nashville. His night, and his season, ended early in the first period when he suffered lacerated tendons in his forearm after being cut by Alexander Radulov’s skate.

Last year, a back injury limited Helm to just one regular season game.

“I spent the one night (in the hospital) and I was out the next morning at 8 a.m. -- two hours of surgery,” Helm said. “Luckily they had an unbelievable hand doctor there and he put me back together and I owe a lot to him. But that was a real fluky thing.

“The back just wasn’t in the cards last season. I didn’t expect that to happen at all and didn’t expect it to last as long as it did. That was the hardest one for me.”

Helm appeared in 65 consecutive playoff games before missing the past 18.

“It wasn’t easy to miss those playoff runs, especially last year, which was really exciting to watch, seeing what the guys did and almost what they accomplished there with the young guys (losing to Chicago in Game 7 of the second round),” Helm said. “Now I got the chance again to get into this lineup with this younger team that we have, exciting team, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Helm’s injury problems continued this season; he missed significant chunks of games with back, shoulder, groin and concussion issues.

He still managed to equal his career-high total in goals (12) in just 42 games, including his first career hat trick on March 29 in Toronto.

“Helmer is a huge part of our team and can be a very, very special player,” coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s going to be that much better next year because he’ll have the first opportunities to train for years in the summer.

“But with his speed and his tenacity, he’s got to play a simple game and go out there and help us out. We feel that as games come, anytime you have as much time as Helmer off, or even Pav off, your fitness can’t be the same as it was, it’s just impossible. But these guys have really worked hard and really tried hard to maximize the time they’ve had healthy and to be able to help the team.”