George Sipple

Detroit Free Press

Don’t expect an increase in ice time for Detroit Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou.

The Red Wings, down 0-2 in their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, need to generate more offense, and Athanasiou is one of their fastest skaters. He’s averaged 8:09 of ice time in the first two games and has no points on five shots and a minus-1 rating.

“A little bit limited, but I’m making the most of it,” Athanasiou said of his ice time. "Just being ready whenever I get the call to go on the ice.”

The Wings return to Detroit to host the Lightning for Game 7 at 7 p.m. Sunday.

Athanasiou said he tries to move around on the bench or get on the ice during TV timeouts so he’s ready to go when he does get a shift.

“Obviously, this seems to be a hot topic,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill said when asked if there’s been discussion about getting Athanasiou more ice time. “I like Double A as a player. I think Double A’s a good player. (Tyler) Johnson was the MVP of the (American Hockey League). Kucherov’s numbers in the (American Hockey League) were off the charts. Double A wasn’t at that level.”

Johnson scored 14 goals and 24 assists for 38 points in 69 games this past season. He has two goals and leads the Lightning with four assists and six games in the two playoff games against the Wings. Kucherov scored 30 goals and 36 assists for 66 points in 77 games this past season and has three goals and two assists for five points in the playoffs.

Athanasiou scored 16 goals and 16 assists for 32 points in 55 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2014-15. He also had five goals and four assists in the AHL playoffs that year.

This season, he scored eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 26 games for the Griffins, plus nine goals and five assists for 14 points in 37 games in his time with the Red Wings.

“Double A’s a good player who is growing,” Blashill said. “Double A will prove whether or not he can be an elite player, but when he left the (AHL), he was not yet an elite player. So, to think that all of a sudden he’s going to come here and be an elite player, I think, is asking a lot of him. What I have thought is he’s been able to show flashes of elite. And that’s why we’ve used him in the minutes we’ve used him.”

Blashill acknowledged he did put Athanasiou out with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg late in the game. Blashill said: “In those moments, he’s gotta make sure he executes at a high level.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.

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