DETROIT - Teemu Pulkkinen had no points and three shots on goal in two preseason games this week but said his shoulder felt good playing on back-to-back nights.

"It was two hard games," Pulkkinen said after an optional practice Thursday. "It's never easy to come back after surgery. My game is not right there and my skating is not there. I just need more practice and more games and we should be good."

Pulkkinen probably will play in Saturday's exhibition finale against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Joe Louis Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), when coach Jeff Blashill indicated most of the regulars will dress.

The Red Wings (4-1-1 in preseason) play the Maple Leafs in Hamilton on Friday. Jimmy Howard will start in goal Friday and Petr Mrazek will play Saturday.

Pulkkinen had shoulder surgery in early June.

"I'm happy about my shoulder," he said. "I didn't know how the shoulder was going to feel in the games. ... I've been skating for only three weeks. I haven't skated a lot this summer so all the practices and all the games are important."

Zetterberg debut Saturday

Henrik Zetterberg (knee), who began practicing with the team this week, is expected to make his preseason debut on Saturday.

He'll be playing on the wing with new center Frans Nielsen. It also will be the first preseason game for Nielsen, Thomas Vanek and Tomas Tatar, who played for Europe in the World Cup.

"That's the plan right now," Blashill said.

Blashill said the fourth line (Luke Glendening centering Drew Miller and Steve Ott) will play Friday but not Saturday.

Green good to go

Blashill said defenseman Mike Green, who took a few maintenance days this week, will play Saturday.

"He's been skating all week; he could have played any of these mid-week games," Blashill said. "I felt he had two real good exhibition games, We didn't want to take any chances with him not being 100 percent."

Green will be paired with Brendan Smith to start.

"We'll keep looking at (pairings)," Blashill said. "I think on Saturday what we might do is each period have different D pairings and just continue to give them different looks and see which one works the best."

Defenseman Dan Renouf suffered an upper-body injury in Wednesday's 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh and will be out at least a week.

Coreau making statement

Grand Rapids Griffins goaltender Jared Coreau is 3-0-0 in the preseason, with a 1.61 goals-against average and .953 save percentage.

"He's really taken steps forward," Blashill said. "You want guys to say that they're ready through their play. I thought last night was going to be a big test for him. It was by far the best NHL lineup he's faced. There were real shooters in that game with (Evgeni) Malkin and (Kris) Letang and (Patric) Hornqvist and (Phil) Kessel and (Chris) Kunitz. I thought he showed very well.

"He's a guy who's gotten immensely better over the last three years. Anytime you got a big guy like that who keeps getting better it's a real promising thing. So from what I've seen he looks like a real prospect."