DETROIT - An offensive-minded player with a tremendous shot his entire hockey career, Martin Frk's challenge is adapting to a fourth-line role with the Detroit Red Wings, with Andreas Athanasiou back.

He won't get as many scoring chances or as much ice time, so he must find more ways to make an impact on his line with Luke Glendening and Scott Wilson. That includes providing energy and forecheck pressure.

"I want to play my game still. I don't want to change it," Frk said. "It's a little harder. You don't get as much ice time five-on-five. It's a challenge for me, but I'm just going to work through it.

"I feel like our line played good (Tuesday), so I think we're getting good chemistry between us. We can definitely score."

Frk ended an eight-game points drought by assisting on Glendening's goal in the first period of a 5-3 victory over the Arizona Coyotes at Little Caesars Arena.

Frk said he played a little bit on the fourth line his first couple of seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins, under coach Jeff Blashill.

"We're going to pressure them," Frk said. "We don't want to play in our zone, we want to play in their zone. There will be less scoring chances, but when we get it we want to make sure we score a goal from it. We just got to go grind it. It's a hard job on the fourth line but I love it and I take it. I'm happy I am playing, so I will do whatever I have to do."

Blashill liked Frk's play on Tuesday.

"I thought Frk helped changed momentum in the second with his work ethic and battle level," Blashill said.

"I think he still gets scoring chances. You might not get as many because you don't play as many minutes. When you play with Luke Glendening, there's a good chance you're going to get forecheck pressure. When you have forecheck pressure, good chance there's going to be a turnover and a quick-strike attack. I think he's been involved with some real scoring chances."

Frk logged a season-low 6:56. That was due in part to having only one power play. He remains on the second power-play unit, where he tries to set up for a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle on passes from fellow right-handed shooter Mike Green.

"I think he dipped a little bit in his confidence and I think his confidence is building back up," Blashill said. "To me, his confidence is everything. When he's confident he's in way more control, he makes tons of plays. He can give you instant offense without a lot of minutes and not many guys can do that. I also think when he's confident he's way better on the power play and there's less unforced errors."

Blashill said he considered keeping Frk on the third line and putting either Darren Helm or Justin Abdelkader on the fourth line.

"Right now, I use that (Frans) Nielsen line as a match line, so I played them a majority of time against (Derek) Stepan's line (on Tuesday) to free up the other lines to have a little more offensive opportunities," Blashill said.

Howard starts again

Jimmy Howard will make his sixth start in a row Thursday at Ottawa (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), the start of a four-game trip.

Petr Mrazek hasn't played since his 37-save performance in a 4-3 overtime loss to Washington on Oct. 20. Chances are, Mrazek will play one of the games during back-to-back contests Sunday and Monday at Edmonton and Vancouver.

Maintenance days

Dylan Larkin, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Trevor Daley did not practice Wednesday but all are available Thursday "I really wanted to have a full practice today and continue to work on things that we need to work on, but unfortunately, you have guys that need maintenance days as you go through the NHL season," Blashill said. "There were enough guys that needed a maintenance day that put us into a position where we decided to work on some skills."

Booth waived

David Booth was waived Wednesday but remains with the team. If he clears at noon Thursday, the Red Wings can assign him to Grand Rapids. He initially cleared on Oct. 4, but players must clear again after 30 days or 10 games played before being sent to the AHL.