DETROIT -- Joey MacDonald will get his second consecutive start in goal tonight for the Detroit Red Wings against the St. Louis Louis Blues at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, FSD).

Jimmy Howard (sprained left shoulder) practiced this morning and said he expects to play Saturday in Nashville. Thomas McCollum will dress as the back-up tonight.

“Pretty much I can do everything (on the ice),'' Howard said. "It's getting better. Still a little stiff, some soreness in there.''

Pavel Datsyuk will miss his sixth game in a row because of a lower-body injury but hopes to return on Saturday.

“I'm more comfortable, stronger,'' Datsyuk said. "Time has helped me a lot.''

Asked if he's quicker on the ice, he said, “Still not skate like Homer, fast.''

Kris Draper and Ruslan Salei are the healthy scratches. Here are the anticipated lines for Detroit:

Hudler-Zetterberg-Cleary

Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi

Holmstrom-Modano-Abdelkader

Miller-Helm-Eaves

Lidstrom-Stuart

Ericsson-Kronwall

Kindl-Rafalski

MacDonald (starting)

McCollum

--Todd Bertuzzi is glad he avoided a suspension and that Chicago's Ryan Johnson wasn't injured after the Red Wings forward delivered a big hit against him on Monday. Bertuzzi was ejected from the game after receiving a major penalty for elbowing.

“I went in there to finish a hit and I thought he was in a really bad spot, so I tried to ease up and go with my side, tried to hit him low with my butt in the stomach,'' Bertuzzi said. "I know if I would have went straight on I could have hit him pretty hard. I just wanted to make sure he was all right.''

Bertuzzi went into the Blackhawks dressing room afterward to apologize. Johnson said it wasn't a malicious play.

“Obviously, you got to finish your check, that's what we're paid to do, but at the same time I don't want to put the guy through the boards,'' Bertuzzi said. "But I got to finish my check and make sure he knows I'm there and I got to try to get the puck. At the same time I try to do the right thing and it almost kind of got away a little bit. I'm glad he's fine and we'll move on.''

--Mike Modano is back in the lineup tonight after playing only one shift in the third period of Monday's game, as coach Mike Babcock, already missing Bertuzzi, shortened his bench.

“I think it was just a numbers thing and I think Babs had a rotation going with those guys, so it just happened to be one of those nights,'' Modano said.

--Here are the lines the Blues used in Tuesday's game:

Andy McDonald-David Backes-Matt D’Agostini

Vladimir Sobotka-Patrik Berglund-Chris Stewart

Chris Porter-Adam Cracknell-B.J. Crombeen

Ryan Reaves-Phil McRae-Cam Janssen

Carlo Colaiacovo-Alex Pietrangelo

Nikita Nikitin-Roman Polak

Kevin Shattenkirk-Ian Cole

Jaroslav Halak

Ty Conklin

Forward T.J. Oshie will be serving the second game of his two-game suspension for missing a practice, when he overslept.