Detroit Red Wings 2014-15: Jimmy Howard

The Red Wings' Jimmy Howard has sat out the past two games after injuring his groin on Dec. 19.

(Mike Mulholland/MLive.com)

OTTAWA - The Detroit Red Wings boarded a flight Saturday morning to Ottawa, perhaps the only time this season they will fly the day of the game.

They had no choice. All teams playing on the road tonight did likewise because no travel is allowed during the NHL's three-day Christmas break.

So it figures to be a long day for the Red Wings, who face the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). But they'll deal with it.

"Everyone ate last night, everyone had breakfast, everyone had a morning skate. Let's go," coach Mike Babcock said. "No excuses. Let's play."

Jimmy Howard is back in goal tonight after sitting out the past two games and leaving after the first period on Dec. 19 against the New York Islanders with a groin injury.

"I don't think I'm in any different position than anyone else is right now," Howard said. "Everyone has had three days off.

"The only thing that's different is hopping on the plane this morning. The rest of the day from here on out is exactly the same. Can't really use that as an excuse."

Stephen Weiss said he was cleared to play after leaving Tuesday's game against Buffalo in the third period following a hard hit from Nikita Zadorov.

"I'm playing tonight for sure," Weiss said. "I was just initially a little woozy, but once I got off the ice I was fine. We did baseline protocol; that went fine. I didn't feel any worse over the next day or two. Everything is good to go."

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall also skated this morning and said he feels fine but added that he needs to be cleared by the doctor tonight.

"Feels good as of now. See how it feels tonight," Kronwall said. "Just got dinged a bit, wasn't much more than that."

Kronwall left Tuesday's game in the second period after a hit from Tyler Ennis.

As for the team returning from a three-day break, Kronwall said, "Biggest thing is to just keep it simple. I know it's a lot easier said than done but keep it simple, make sure the puck goes out of your zone and into their zone. Really get your lungs and legs going again. It's been three days, more than what we're used to."

Here are tonight's anticipated lines and defense pairs:

Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Justin Abdelkader

Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Stephen Weiss

Johan Franzen-Darren Helm-Gustav Nyquist

Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Tomas Jurco

Joakim Andersson and Daniel Cleary (scratched)

On defense:

Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson

Kyle Quincey-Danny DeKeyser

Brendan Smith-Jakub Kindl

Brian Lashoff (scratched)

In goal:

Jimmy Howard (starting)

Petr Mrazek

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