Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Pavel Datsyuk was pulled from the Detroit Red Wings lineup just prior to warm-ups after tweaking his groin earlier in the day.

Datsyuk took part in the morning skate, with pain flaring up later in the afternoon. That made him unavailable as the Red Wings host the New Jersey Devils (6-5-2) tonight at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, FSD).

That opened up a spot for Joakim Andersson to return to the lineup, one game after being a healthy scratch.

The only new face Friday was Petr Mrazek, who is in Detroit for a while, as regular backup Jonas Gustavsson is out indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder.

"I'm happy to be back practicing with these guys," Mrazek said. "I'm pretty excited being here."

It'll be an adjustment for Mrazek to go from being the go-to guy in Grand Rapids to playing maybe once every 10 days or so in Detroit, but he'll get the benefit of practicing against better talent than in the minors. "I don't think it's going to be difficult," Mrazek said. "I'm just going to work hard here and be ready."

Mrazek, 22, is 3-5-0 in NHL appearances, with two shutouts dating to last season, and a 1.80 goals-against average and .926 save percentage.

"I think he's a real good goalie," coach Mike Babcock said. "He's really good with the puck. He hasn't had the kind of start he wanted in the American Hockey League, but he's going to get an opportunity to play in a game that Gus would play, and you've got to show you can win in this league."

When that appearance will come is unknown. The Wings play again Sunday, against Tampa Bay, and then don't have another game until next Friday.

The Wings are looking to get back on track after picking up just two points the last three games. They take on a Devils team that lost 4-3 at St. Louis Thursday night.

"Every night, there should be urgency," Babcock said. "I don't know about losing should create more. To me, we should have had urgency on the road. We have up too many chances."

The Devils play organized, their back end really shoots the puck, and they're fast. Babcock watched Thursday's game, and noted that while the Wings gave up two goals Wednesday at New York on line changes, "I thought nobody else in the word could possibly do that, but then I watched New Jersey do the same thing."

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.