Defending champ ’Wings hoping to close out series

May 27, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

DETROIT (AP) — The Red Wings did just fine without Nicklas Lidstrom. Now they don’t want to push their luck.

Detroit routed the Chicago Blackhawks 6-1 Sunday and took a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals. It was the only playoff game Lidstrom missed in his career.

Rookie Jonathan Ericsson filled in for the six-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman, and the defending champions didn’t miss a beat. Still, as well as Ericsson played, Detroit hopes it won’t have to replace Lidstrom again in Game 5 tonight with a chance to reach the Stanley Cup finals.

“It’s way easier to replace quality players in the short term than it is in the long term because everyone can lift their level for a period of time,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said Tuesday. “But, how you gonna play like Nick every night? I haven’t seen anybody play like Nick every night, except Nick.”

Babcock said Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk were feeling better, but the team planned to wait until both got a chance to skate before the game to decide whether they will play.

Lidstrom missed Game 4 with an undisclosed injury. Datsyuk, an MVP finalist, has been out the past two games with an injured foot.

Babcock cut off a question about resting the players with a 3-1 series lead.

“If they’re ready, they’re playing,” Babcock insisted.

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said his team would wait until game day to determine if No. 1 goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin and leading scorer Martin Havlat will be on the ice to help avoid elimination.

Havlat returned to the lineup Sunday, two days after a jarring hit from Detroit Niklas Kronwall, but was limited to fewer than eight minutes because he was checked hard by Brad Stuart.

Khabibulin has been out since playing the first two periods of Game 3 because of a lower body injury. He was replaced by Cristobal Huet, who allowed five of Detroit six goals in Game 5.

“We’ve found ways to play great without some of our best players all year,” Chicago star Jonathan Toews said. “We’ve missed guys like Duncan Keith and Patrick Sharp and we found ways to win without those guys. We have to do the same thing [tonight]. There is no excuse.”

If the Blackhawks did make excuses, the banged-up Red Wings wouldn’t want to hear them.

Detroit has played in this series without two of its best players and four-time Cup-winning forward Kris Draper because of injuries.

Brian Rafalski missed six games earlier in the playoffs, Tomas Kopecky has been sidelined since the second round and Andreas Lilja has been out the entire postseason because of various ailments.