NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Detroit Red Wings will get a boost of energy and speed tonight when they open the playoffs against the Nashville Predators.

Coach Mike Babcock said center Darren Helm will play in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena (8 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit).

Helm has been out since March 17 with a sprained left medial collateral ligament.

“Helmer just puts everybody in their right spot,'' Babcock said after the morning skate. "We had a great bottom six all year long and then we lost our people and we had no bottom six, no support scoring.''

Helm started skating last Thursday and has made a rapid recovery from an injury the club initially estimated would idle him for 4-6 weeks.

"It's still that little bit of pain, I feel a little tweak, but it's gone down a lot,'' Helm said.

Before Babcock spoke, Helm listed himself as a game-time decision but was optimistic.

"It's been a long 3, 3½ weeks. You play all year for this first (playoff) game,'' Helm said. “I don't know how much (difference) one guy can make, this is a team game and I think the guys have been playing pretty well as of late. If I can get in, I'll try to mix in with the guys and give the team a little energy boost.''

Babcock said he hadn't settled on his fourth line, but added, 'guys that are out are (Riley) Sheahan, (Jan) Mursak and (Chris) Conner up front.''

It appears that Gustav Nyquist is in for Cory Emmerton, but that's not definite. Nyquist skated on the line with Justin Abdelkader and Tomas Holmstrom and was off the ice long before Emmerton.

Danny Cleary, who said on Monday that his ailing left knee is "50 percent'' is playing.

“If he was 50 percent effectiveness he wouldn't be playing, so let's get that straight,'' Babcock said. "So we sat down and talked about that specifically. I said 'I have lots of guys on deck ready to go.' We need people that are ready to go. He assured me he's ready to go. So there's no issue there.''

Here are tonight's anticipated lines and defense pairs:

Filppula-Zetterberg-Hudler

Franzen-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi

Miller-Helm-Cleary

Nyquist-Abdelkader-Holmstrom

Lidstrom-Ericsson

Kronwall-Stuart

Quincey-White

Howard (starting)

Conklin