Jimmy Howard-Maple Leafs

Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard looks to lead his team to its fifth win in a row over Toronto.

(AP file photo)

TORONTO - Pavel Datsyuk will miss his third game in a row, sitting out for the fifth time in the past seven games due to a pulled groin, when the Detroit Red Wings visit the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday at Air Canada Centre (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit).

Datsyuk skated after practice Thursday in Winnipeg but the entire team did not skate Friday after arriving in Toronto, opting for an off-ice workout.

Coach Mike Babcock said even if Datsyuk has skated Friday he wouldn't have been ready to play.

"Once he gets feeling right, starts skating right we'll get him going," Babcock said. "We don't want this going on so we want to get it fixed right this time."

Jimmy Howard, coming off a 5-0 victory at Columbus on Tuesday, will start in goal after getting the night off Thursday, when Petr Mrazek started in a 4-3 win at Winnipeg.

That is the only change, Babcock said. So rookie Xavier Ouellet will remain in the lineup in place of Jakub Kindl, who'll be scratched for the fourth game in a row for reasons Babcock will not specify.

He said of canceling practice Friday, "I'm just trying to do the right thing. A big part of it's physical, but much more part of it is mental. We helped ourselves physically today, did we hurt ourselves mentally? I hope not. We'll find out."

They'll find out against a Maple Leafs club surrounded in controversy. Their 9-2 loss at home Tuesday against Nashville called into question the future of embattled coach Randy Carlyle. Then players, following their 5-2 win over Tampa Bay Thursday, created a stir by not raising their sticks to salute fans at the ACC.

None of this means anything to the Red Wings (10-4-5), who are just trying to win their third game in a row.

"It's something that we really don't need to be worried about," Detroit forward Justin Abdelkader said. "For them maybe, I don't know, if it's a distraction. But for us it's just go about our daily routine, business as usual."

They hope it's business as usual. The Red Wings have won four in a row against Toronto, including a home-and-home sweep on Oct. 17-18, and are 5-0-1 in their past six games vs. the Maple Leafs, who are 10-8-2.

"They're a team that is right there with us in the standings," Babcock said. "There's nothing to pick between us and them. It's going to be an important game for them and an important game for us."

Toronto has been up and down. It won three a row recently, before losing its next three, and then pounding the Lightning.

"They can flat-out score," Babcock said. "They have good players. We've got to play. They just beat Tampa. They just beat Boston (6-1 on Nov. 12). They've lost two games badly like lots of us do. All depends on life what you focus on. They're a good team."

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