It's Detroit trying to measure up now

It's always been considered a measuring stick game whenever the Blackhawks and Red Wings meet.

But in a switch tonight at the United Center, it will be Detroit looking to see how it stacks up against a Hawks (22-8-3, 47 points) team that has been the best in the Central Division this season.

The Red Wings (18-12-5, 41 points) are hanging tough in the division race despite missing nine regulars with injuries, including stars Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Johan Franzen and Dan Cleary.

"Detroit's still a good team and will be challenging the rest of the way," Hawks defenseman Brian Campbell said.

Zetterberg, Detroit's leading scorer, became the latest Red Wing to go down on Thursday with a separated left shoulder. He'll miss at least the next two weeks.

"I think we're just kind of at a point where we're just shaking our heads right

now," forward Kris Draper told the Detroit Free Press. "When is enough enough? We haven't made any excuses for what's going on and the players we have out, but in 16-17 years around here, I've never seen anything like it."

The Wings still have Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski. Their kids have performed well, veteran Todd Bertuzzi has elevated his game recently and goalie Jimmy Howard has been strong, although Chris Osgood gets the start against the Hawks.

It will be Marian Hossa's first game against his former team. Hossa missed the only meeting between the two teams on Oct. 8 while recovering from shoulder surgery.

Injury report: Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said left wing Ben Eager was doubtful to face Detroit because of the upper body injury that kept him out of Friday's win over Boston.

Eager is believed to be suffering more concussion-like symptoms. He missed 13 games earlier in the season with a concussion.

Left wing Bryan Bickell was returned to Rockford on Saturday, meaning defenseman Jordan Hendry likely will dress and play forward.

Defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson is expected to play after sitting out Friday's game with the flu.