DETROIT -- If the Penguins were hoping one benefit of starting the Stanley Cup final quickly would be to catch the Red Wings before their injured players returned, it isn't working out that way.

At least not mostly.

By all accounts -- or at least Detroit's account; this is, after all the NHL playoffs, when teams closely guard injury information -- the Red Wings will be at full strength for Game 1 tonight at Joe Louis Arena with the possible and notable exception of center Pavel Datsyuk.

"Pavel's going to be the only last-minute decision," coach Mike Babcock said of the top-line center who missed the past three games because of a foot injury. "Everyone else will be ready."

That means defenseman and captain Nicklas Lidstrom, center Kris Draper and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson are expected to be in the lineup.

At one point, the NHL planned to start the final Friday regardless of how quickly the Red Wings and Penguins advanced, which would have allowed the Detroit players six more days to recover. After the Penguins completed a sweep of Carolina in the Eastern Conference final Tuesday and the Red Wings eliminated Chicago in Game 5 of the Western Conference final, the league revamped the schedule.

"I'll be ready to go," said Lidstrom, a six-time Norris Trophy winner who missed the final two games of Chicago series with what is being called a lower-body injury.

He skated on his own Thursday and practiced yesterday at what appeared to be normal speed and with his regular partner, Brian Rafalski.

"For Nick to be back in Game 1 is huge," goaltender Chris Osgood said. "It's going to help us on our power play, obviously, but Nick defensively is one of a kind. He's one of those guys that can shut down other team's star players on his own. So, for us to have him back is going to be huge, especially in Game 1.

"We were up, 2-0, over Chicago [before the injuries started piling up], but to start a series without a lot of those guys would be difficult."

Draper, who missed the last two games against Chicago because of a groin injury, practiced but didn't sound quite as optimistic as his coach.

"Hopefully, I'll wake up and it will be OK and it will just keep improving," he said.

Datsyuk, who finished fourth in league scoring in the regular season, was on the ice at Joe Louis Arena for practice but skated tentatively and skipped most drills.

"I didn't skate for almost one week," Datsyuk said. "I don't like to force it. We'll see [today]. Game-time decision. We're trying to do everything so I play [today]."

Ericsson might not be the highest-profile of the players who could return, but he has probably the most intriguing situation.

He missed the series-clinching, 2-1 overtime win in Game 5 against Chicago because he had an appendectomy earlier in the day. That was Wednesday. All indications are that he expects to play 72 hours or so later.

"Ericsson's playing for sure," said Babcock, who followed doctor's directives and held the rookie defenseman out of practice.

"Really good doctors, I would say," Ericsson said of being able to return to the lineup so quickly after the laproscopic surgery.

"It was really bad timing, but we won the fifth game, so that was good. I just didn't want to miss any of the final. I think we did the right thing, taking it out as quick as we could and hoping for a quick recovery."

Ericsson said he had appendicitis three times before, beginning three years ago during the offseason.

He improved then and opted not to have his appendix removed because, with the standard surgical procedure then discussed, he might have needed more than a month to recover and could have missed the start of training camp. Doctors did not warn him it could flare up again, which it did about three months later and then once more before this week.

"The first time it happened, it was a lot worse, painful," he said. "This time, I knew it was the same thing. It started with [pain] all around your stomach and then it goes down the right side.."

He's not looking back or wishing he had had the surgery in the first place.

"I missed one game, hopefully not more than that," Ericsson said. "This procedure is probably better than at home [in Sweden]. I don't regret anything."