The Detroit Red Wings catch a break; Ville Husso recalled and more

It's been a bit of a chaotic Friday, but for the most part, it's all positive for the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit will square off against the Maple Leafs on Friday evening in Toronto. Fortunately for the Red Wings, Toronto will be without superstar Auston Matthews. Matthews has recorded five goals and 11 points over 13 games this season. Last year, the sniper notched 69 goals and 107 points for the Leafs. The Toronto captain hasn't been on the ice since Sunday as he's been dealing with an upper-body injury. On Friday, Toronto placed him on Injured Reserve retroactive to November 3. The corresponding move is forward; Connor Dewar has been recalled from the LTIR conditioning loan and activated.

Now, here is a bit of the bad news. The Detroit Red Wings recalled goaltender Ville Husso on an emergency basis because Alex Lyon suffered a lower-body injury on Thursday during practice and will be unavailable through the weekend. The injury is considered day-to-day, so that's the good news. Cam Talbot will get the nod in goal on Friday, and Husso is expected to start on Saturday night at home when the Red Wings host the New York Rangers.

"He tweaked a little something — lower-body, yesterday," coach Derek Lalonde said after the Friday morning skate at Scotiabank Arena. "So Ville will be backing up Cam Talbot (in Toronto) and in net (Saturday). I'm not overly concerned with it being long-term, but we'll get through the weekend. We don't play till Wednesday after this back-to-back."

If you recall, the last time we saw Husso in Detroit was on opening night, when he allowed four goals on 14 shots before being lifted for Talbot. After that rough outing, the Red Wings placed Husso on waivers and, after he cleared, sent him down to Grand Rapids to work on some things. He's been excellent with the Griffins, going 2-0-0 with a 1.23 goals-against average and a 0.958 save percentage in three games.

Back to some other news: I can see a vast majority of you with that wry Norman Bates-like smile right now. Jeff Petry will be a healthy scratch in Toronto, and former Leaf Justin Holl will enter the fray to take his place.

Red Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk will be part of the pregame ceremony on Friday night in Toronto.

The two-time Stanley Cup winner received his Hall of Fame ring Friday and will participate in the pregame ceremony honoring the Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of 2024.

Following the morning skate Friday, Dylan Larkin quickly reflected on his time playing alongside the now Hall Of Famer during his rookie season.

"I played with him for a year, and just his sense of humor, it was very underrated.  His English I think was better than he let [the media] believe.  My first year there was avideo that came out on YouTube about me, and no one enjoyed it more than Pav.  That was the D Boss Video.  He loved it.  He loved talking about it.  He loved calling me D Boss.  Those were cool memories.  It honestly helped me feel a little bit better about it when it came out."

"Just watching the way he worked, the way he would ride the bike for 45 minutes after games.  He was in the last year of his NHL career and still playing one-on-one with guys for 30, 40 minutes after morning skates.  He loved the game, and he loved putting the puck through a guy's triangle and going in and making a play."

Detroit Red Wings star winger and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Patrick Kane also discussed Datsyuk and who he feels most resembles his style of play today.

"I don't know, I guess I could see Auston's (Matthews) game a little bit in his," Kane said after practice Friday. "Maybe Auston's more of a shooter, but as far as playing both ends of the ice and being able to strip guys with the puck and turn it into offense. I think that's where they're pretty similar."