from Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com,

"Anthony is obviously a really, really talented and good offensive player and one of our biggest offensive threats, if not the biggest offensive threat," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "He was having a heck of a year before he got hurt. He looks good. This is on the early side of the timeline but I think he's done a really good job of getting himself prepared. He looks really good, he's in a good frame of mind, so it just gives us more weapons.

"We went through a stretch there where we didn't have a whole lot of weapons. Guys worked hard but we didn't have a whole lot of weapons. Scoring matters in this league. It changes momentum in games and ultimately dictates whether you win or lose and I think having a guy like Anthony back is a big thing."...

"Everyone's watching, everyone thinks they have the solution but technically it's only between the guys in the room," Mantha said. "Like I said, it was hard to watch. Obviously you don't want to see your buddies and your teammates struggle like that but they got out of it, it's behind us and right now we're trying to build on the future."

When Mantha got hurt, he was playing on the top line with Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, but that will not likely be the way the game will start.

"From what it was this morning, with (Valtteri) Filppula and (Filip) Zadina tonight," Mantha said. "(Robby) Fabbri, Larks and Bert are playing good hockey these last couple games so if we could get that line going and get our line going, then that's two strong offensive lines."...

"He's in a great frame of mind and when he's in a great frame of mind like that, when he's playing on top of his game, he's a beast, he's one of the best in the league."

Blashill also said Andreas Athanasiou would return to action after missing the last two games with an undisclosed ailment.

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added 2:29pm, Below, watch Zadina and Mantha today.