Henrik Zetterberg skated with his Detroit Red Wings teammates Thursday for the first time since before the Olympic break.
Zetterberg underwent back surgery Feb. 21 and expects to play in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, if the Red Wings advance past the Boston Bruins. If the captain was to return in Round 1, it would come late in the series.
“I think that time-wise we were shooting for Round 2 if everything goes well, so just got to take it step by step here and day by day and increase intensity every day, and hopefully in a couple days, maybe I can do some more battling drills,” Zetterberg told MLive.com.
Still, the team is impressed by the left winger’s speedy recovery.
“I saw him at Nick Lidstrom’s retirement March 6, and he couldn’t walk,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He hobbled his way out onto the ice. Now he’s out there skating.”
The Red Wings and Bruins start their series Friday night at TD Garden. The team tweeted Thursday afternoon that it had arrived in Boston.
[tweet https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/456892147523145728 align=’center’%5D
Photo via Twitter/@Bill_Roose
