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The Red Wings' Johan Franzen (center) hasn't had much to celebrate in this first-round playoff series.

(AP file photo)

DETROIT – The kids did a tremendous job to get the injury-riddled Detroit Red Wings into the playoffs, but their inexperience is showing in the most important games.

The postseason is a time for those who’ve been here before to step up, particularly your best players and team leaders.

Pavel Datsyuk has accounted for 50 percent of his team's offense (two-of-four goals) in its first-round Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Bruins despite laboring on a bad knee. Henrik Zetterberg returned sooner than he probably would have from back surgery Thursday because the team needed him. Niklas Kronwall delivered a strong performance the same day he became a father for the first time and continues to anchor a young defense.

Johan Franzen should be included in that group of players giving maximum effort on the ice and leading off the ice. But he has made no impact, continuing a trend that began with a month to play in the regular season.

Trailing three games to one, the Red Wings face elimination Saturday in Game 5 at TD Garden (3 p.m., NBC).

Now, it might not matter if Franzen suddenly starts resembling the elite power forward he should be. It might be too late. Only twice have the Red Wings come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series – 1987 vs. Toronto and 1992 against the Minnesota North Stars. To do so against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins is a monumental task.

All the Red Wings can do is focus on winning Saturday.

Jonas Gustavsson will be back in goal after giving his team a chance to win by making 37 saves in Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss. Jimmy Howard, weakened by the flu, didn’t practice Friday. Zetterberg hopes to be stronger in his second game. Daniel Alfredsson, out the past two games with a sore back, is expected to return.

The Red Wings desperately need offense from Franzen, who's been limited to one assist in the series.

“He’s got to get himself going, just like all of us,” coach Mike Babcock said. “Obviously, we’ve talked to him, tried to put him in the best situations to be successful, but like every guy on your team, collectively as a group and individually, we haven’t had our best. So you got to find a way to get more. That’s your obligation to your teammates and to yourself.

“You ask yourself, ‘Am I playing at the level I’m capable of playing?’ And if you’re not, then we need more.”

Franzen has one goal, seven assists and a minus-6 rating in his past 22 games, regular season and playoffs. In the 23 games prior to that he had 13 goals, 16 assists and a plus-14 rating.

Franzen, who wore the alternate captain’s “A” on his jersey many times this season, has not been available for comment at any time during this series. It’s not unusual for him to avoid media during the season, but he usually speaks from time to time.

Babcock said Franzen is a good person and family man who tries to be a good teammate but doesn’t handle the media as well as he should.

“If you stepped right up and talked it makes it easier,” Babcock said. “When you don’t, things build and I think that puts more pressure on you. I don’t know why you’d do that.”

He drew a comparison to an ordinary job.

“You have a meeting and no one says anything; you walk out the door and talk behind each other’s back,” Babcock said. “If you just call each other out and have the hard meeting, then everyone can get on with progress.

“He’s a man; he’s got to deal with that himself.”

Franzen was a force in the playoffs between 2008 and 2010, with 31 goals (including nine game-winners), 59 points and a plus-29 rating in 51 games. Since 2011, he has seven goals, 11 points and a minus-9 rating in 31 postseason games.

“We need more out of the Mule,” Babcock said. “It’s simple.”

Teammates are doing what they can to support Franzen.

“It’s a team sport, everyone’s in it together,” Zetterberg said. “I’ve been through that (slump), too. The only thing you can do is work hard and believe in yourself. He’s a good player. He will come out and have a good game (Saturday).

“You just have to stick with it, go out and keep shooting and working hard. When he gets one there’s a good chance he’ll get one or two more.”

The Red Wings need Franzen’s size (6-3, 229) to get on the inside against the Bruins’ big, strong defense.

“They’re doing a good job keeping us on the outside; that’s where we have to find a way to get some more traffic,” Kronwall said. “In the first period (Thursday) we threw pucks in there, we had good traffic, we got the puck back and that’s how we have to play.”