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Recovering Red Wings try to take advantage of sliding Sens

Feb 2, 2011 - 4:33 PM (Sports Network) - Detroit was able to remain one of the top teams in the Western Conference despite dealing with a number of injuries.

With a handful of returning players on the horizon, including forward Danny Cleary tonight, the Central Division-leading Red Wings will try to hand the Ottawa Senators their longest losing streak in over 15 years Wednesday at Scotiabank Place.

Detroit is five points up on Nashville for the division lead and its 66 points has it second overall in the conference, one ahead of Dallas and seven behind NHL-leading Vancouver. The Red Wings have kept pace despite being without Cleary, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Brad Stuart, Mike Modano and Chris Osgood for an extended period of time.

Help is on the way though. Cleary will play tonight for the first time since suffering a broken left ankle on Dec. 26, while Datsyuk was recently activated off injured reserve. However, the forward won't play tonight as he needs a few more days to recover from his broken wrist suffered on Dec. 22.

Cleary has 16 goals and 10 assists in 35 games and should help boost a Red Wings club that went just 3-3-1 in seven contests before the All-Star break.

"[The ankle is] still sore, but as long as the doctors tell me ... it's gonna be sore, so there's not much you can do about it," said Cleary on Detroit's website. "I'm excited to be back. It was a nice break for everybody and now we need a nice push because the West is so tight; every game is important."

Jimmy Howard should get the call in net tonight and he made 23 saves in Detroit's 3-1 victory over New Jersey in its last game before the break.

The Red Wings aim for a second straight victory and will also try to hand the Senators their eighth consecutive setback both overall and at home. Ottawa hasn't lost eight in a row since an 11-game slide from Dec. 30-Jan. 25 during the 1995-96 season.

Ottawa fell to 0-5-2 in its last seven games and 1-9-4 in its last 14 with last night's 2-1 setback in New Jersey. Robin Lehner was strong in net with 31 saves in just his second career start, and the 19-year-old gave up the game- winning goal on a pass attempt that hit off Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips.

"We were all over them in the third period and they got a lucky break near the end, but we should've found a way to win," said Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson.

Alex Kovalev had the lone goal for the Sens, who had a season-low 16 shots and aim tonight for their first win at Scotiabank Place since Dec. 26.

Ottawa head coach Cory Clouston could stick with Lehner, a second-round pick in the 2009 draft, over Brian Elliott, who is just 12-17-7 with a 3.15 goals- against average on the season.

Elliott made 36 saves in last year's 4-1 setback at Detroit, the only meeting between the clubs in 2009-10. It was Elliott's only ever start versus the Red Wings.

Howard stopped 29 saves in the win as he faced the Sens for the first time in his career. The victory was Detroit's second in a row over Ottawa and eighth in the last 11 meetings overall. The franchise has also won four of its last six in Ottawa.