from Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com,

Andreas Athanasiou was all set to play at home Dec. 22 against the Florida Panthers.

Then after taking warmups, Athanasiou ended up being a very late scratch with an upper-body injury that happened Dec. 20 in Carolina.

"I just kind of fell awkwardly a little bit," Athanasiou said. "It's all right. It was just grabbing me a little bit, a little soreness. Those last couple days helped definitely. Should be good tonight."...

Athanasiou went through the morning skate, taking line rushes with Luke Glendening and Michael Rasmussen, and also working with the second power-play unit with Rasmussen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Filip Hronek and Niklas Kronwall.

"I definitely did some stuff to take care of it obviously," Athanasiou said. "There were a couple days which were huge. So I did some rehab, saw some people, did some treatment. It feels good and I should be good to go."...

BACK TO WORK: After three full days off to spend time with family and friends during the three-day Christmas break, the Red Wings have to jump right back into it.

Because there is no team activity allowed on Dec. 26, the Wings traveled to Pittsburgh Thursday morning on a game day.

"No big deal," Blashill said. "We're both on the exact same page. We both had three days and then you gotta skate and play. I don't think it's a big deal at all. We gotta go play. I think the biggest thing is going to be how we execute, the attention to detail with which we play."

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added 3:19pm, Below, a few of the guys talk after the morning skate.