Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar had a good laugh the day after getting kneed in the head, assuaged by being headache-free.

Tatar didn't skate today and won't play Friday, when the Wings travel to Toronto. Tatar left Wednesday's game late in the third period, after a cross check by Pittsburgh's Blake Comeau was so badly timed that Tatar was checked into an official, whose knee caught Tatar right in the head.

"I thought it was kind of funny, because I get pushed, I saw how the ref is jumping, and I just saw the knee right in my face," Tatar said. "I think it was like UFC fighting."

Tatar passed the baseline tests given to players when a concussion is feared and hasn't had any headaches. He's hoping to rejoin his teammates on the ice Friday.

"I should be good tomorrow," he said. "It's definitely way better now than last night after the hit. They just said -- the trainers -- that it's good to have the body rest.

"Hopefully, I will be better tomorrow. I would like to play. We'll see how I feel."

Coach Mike Babcock wasn't sure when Tatar will be able to play again. "He's injured right now," Babcock said. "I don't think it's very bad. Protocol with concussions is such that he's not available to us at this point. I talked to Tats; he's feeling fine. But I don't know when he's playing."

The Wings play Saturday at Boston, their last exhibition before opening the regular season next Thursday.

Babcock badly wants to see Darren Helm and Jonathan Ericsson play at least once this weekend. Helm hasn't played since suffering a broken nose in the exhibition opener 10 days ago, but Babcock revealed that it's more than that that has kept Helm out.

"He wasn't feeling good," Babcock said. "He had some back issues that were putting pressure on his groin. I think they've got it cleaned up. He's practiced a few days now."

Helm said he's playing in "one of the next two, I'm fairly confident of that. Today was a good step. I just want to be comfortable going in."

Ericsson has been dealing with a hip flexor, but he has skated two straight days now and is likely to be in Saturday, if there are no setbacks.

Pavel Datsyuk (separated shoulder) took a little spin on the ice today, but "he was gone early," Babcock noted. Datsyuk is out till late October.

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