The Detroit Red Wings will be down one of their core forwards on Sunday night.
According to a report from Sportsnet's National Hockey League insider Chris Johnston, the Red Wings will be without forward Andreas Athanasiou when they face of against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena. This now marks the 2nd straight game that Athanasiou will miss due to an injury that is believed to be short term in nature.
Athanasiou was made a late scratch on Saturday afternoon ahead of the Red Wings' match up against the Florida Panthers, and Red Wings insider Ansar Khan reported that the scratch was due to injury. According to Khan Athanasiou is suffering from some form of undisclosed upper body injury, however the expectation remains that he will return to the line up sooner rather than later.
Athanasiou has found himself in a scoring slump as of late so this extra time off could actually prove to be a benefit for the talented young forward. Although he has 11 goals and 9 assists for a total of 20 points through the first 32 games of the season, he has failed to find the back of the net over the course of the Red Wings' last 11 games. The Red Wings would ideally like to get him back to the form he was showing earlier in the season and perhaps the decision to hold him out today also has to do with a desire to give him an extended break so he can reset after the holiday period.
In spite of his recent struggles Athanasiou is well on pace to beat his previous season high of 33 points (16 goals and 17 assists) from the 2017 - 2018 National Hockey League regular season and the sooner the Red Wings can get him going again the better. The Red Wings will play next on Thursday when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins and the expectation is that Athanasiou will be ready to go in that game based on the information available at this time.
The Maple Leafs will also be down a forward this evening after Tyler Ennis suffered a broken ankle on Saturday, he will be replaced by Trevor Moore.
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