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The Detroit Red Wings don't know the extent of the back injury suffered by Henrik Zetterberg, who missed 16 games with last month with a slightly herniated disc.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News)

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings say captain Henrik Zetterberg's status is day-to-day after he missed Sunday's 5-4 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers with a back injury.

But the last time the veteran forward had a back injury he missed 11 games in December.

Zetterberg first injured his back this season when he suffered a slightly herniated disc Dec. 1 in Ottawa and he didn't return until Dec. 28. The Red Wings had a 3-6-2 record without their leader.

Now, he's back on the shelf and general manager Ken Holland said he doesn't know if the latest ailment is the same thing that kept Zetterberg out of the lineup last month and that Zetterberg is day-to-day.

But as coach Mike Babcock is fond of saying, day-to-day can often mean 10 days.

"I don't know the answer to that question," Babcock responded when asked if Zetterberg is dealing with the same injury that sidelined him in December. "I just know it's a back thing. So we'll see him tomorrow and know more tomorrow."

The Red Wings had planned to make Daniel Cleary a healthy scratch against Florida with Johan Franzen returning to the lineup after missing 16 games with a concussion. But when Zetterberg was unable to play, Cleary took his place in the lineup.

It wasn't until shortly before game time that the Red Wings knew they'd be without Zetterberg.

"You come to the rink hopeful he's going to play," Babcock said. "Because we didn't have a morning skate we didn't know. Then we got the news and went from there. We would have liked Franzen not to play in the middle his first game back.

"When you're a winger and you got go in the middle it's great when you've played and you got tempo and you're in the kind of game shape you want to be. But that's part of life. Hopefully (Zetterberg) will be ready for the next game. If he's not, we'll go with the guys we got."

The Red Wings' next game is Tuesday in Philadelphia.

Zetterberg might have suffered his latest injury during Friday's 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

He flipped over the Canadiens' Alexei Emelin late in the first period and missed the final few minutes of the period before returning for the rest of the game.

With Zetterberg out, Franzen was forced to play center in his first game since Dec. 15, when he took a glove to the face from Tampa Bay's Radko Gudas and suffered a concussion.

Franzen played almost 17 minutes vs. the Panthers and assisted on Gustav Nyquist's second-period goal that tied it 1-1.