Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Petr Mrazek began this work day with an honor and a morning skate.

He'll be back in net for the Detroit Red Wings when they host the Chicago Blackhawks (8 p.m., NBCSN) at Joe Louis Arena. Mrazek sat out a game because he was hurting but is back to reclaim his spot in goal.

Mrazek said it was not so much his groin that hurt as, "I stretch my leg a little bit. That was good one day off. Now I'm ready to go."

As he came off the ice at the Joe, news also broke Mrazek will be part of the Czech Republic team at September's World Cup of Hockey.

Mrazek is the only personnel change to the lineup that won, 3-2, in overtime Monday at Dallas. The rest of the group is the same that has won the last two games. The forwards feature Pavel Datsyuk with Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader, Riley Sheahan with Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar, Andreas Athanasiou with Brad Richards and Dylan Larkin, and Luke Glendening with Darren Helm and Tomas Jurco.

Zetterberg is playing in his 900th career game. Datsyuk did so earlier this season. Learning from those two, in particular, "is one of the best things that happened to me in my career," Larkin said. "To be able to watch them and see how they are as guys, as players, that's pretty impressive."

The defense again will be Niklas Kronwall, Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, Jonathan Ericsson, Kyle Quincey and Alexey Marchenko, with Brendan Smith a healthy scratch for a third straight game.

The Wings have points in five straight games as they face the defending Stanley Cup champions. The Wings are four points out of first place in the Atlantic Division after going 3-0-2 in their last five.

Head coach Jeff Blashill was asked again about the team not making any additions before Monday's trade deadline and that reiterated he likes the makeup of the Wings.

"We've been a playoff team almost the whole season," Blashill said. "Anybody that thinks it's easy can come and sit with us every night. This is a hard league. Everybody is about the same. There is one team in the East (Washington) that's kind of separated themselves up top; we've been with the rest of the mix of teams.

"This is a team that with a little bit different roster went seven games against Tampa, who went on to be two wins from the Cup. I mean, the difference between winning and losing is minuscule. I said the other day, and I know this, we're a good enough team to win. We've got a to find a way to fight and scratch and claw and get ourselves into the Stanley Cup playoffs so that we're one of the eight teams in the East that gets the opportunity to represent the East and play in the final. Once you get in, I think all 16 teams have great opportunities to win it."

Blashill also cautioned, again, about making a move just to make a move.

"It sounds great to add, and it gets people excited on that day, but are the players you're adding better than the players you've got?" he said. "My approach to Ken Holland was, I think the players we've got are a lot better than the vast majority of the guys we could have potentially added. I like the players we have. I think people get excited about what they don't have. A lot of times, people think the grass is greener. I like what we have as a team. Now it's on our shoulders to execute on a nightly basis the rest of the year to try to earn our way into the playoffs."

The Wings play the Blackhawks two straight games, going to Chicago on Sunday. The Blackhawks have the second-best power play in the NHL, have the leading scorer in the league in Patrick Kane, and deep lineup.

"They're a very, very well-rounded two-way team," Blashill said. "They present great challenges. So it will be a great opportunity for us to measure ourselves."

Note: With Mrazek healthy, goalie Jared Coreau today was returned to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins. He was the Wings' backup goalie Monday.

Game thread: Red Wings host champion Blackhawks

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