DETROIT – The Red Wings will have Gustav Nyquist back in the lineup when they welcome the Minnesota Wild to Joe Louis Arena this evening.

Nyquist, who leads the American Hockey League is scoring – with 23 goals and 37 assists in 58 games – will play in his fifth game with the Wings this season. His call-up was necessary after veteran forward Patrick Eaves was struck in the face by a puck in Tuesday’s practice.

Eaves, who has a history of post-concussion syndrome, suffered sprained temporomandibular (commonly known as TMJ) joints, which connect both sides of the jawbone to the skull. He is day to day.

In four games with the Wings this season, Nyquist has one assist with a minus-1 rating. He played in the Griffins’ 4-1 loss Tuesday night.

“We sent him to Peoria to play the game last night,” coach Mike Babcock said. “Gave him a six-hour bus ride. Let him sleep for a bit and we’ll let him play tonight see how mentally tough he is. That’s all part of the training to be a Red Wing.”

Nyquist is a former two-time finalist for the Hobey Baker Award when he was a member of the University of Maine hockey program. Nyquist has been a leading scorer at every level that he’s played. But his NHL career has been slow to start.

“The problem with the NHL is you have to come up and grab hold of something,” Babcock said. “You know, we called (Joakim Andersson) up for a game. He’s still play, just because he grabbed hold of something. That’s what Gus has to do.

“So you get another opportunity. Patty hurt his jaw. So if you’re Gus and you get in there tonight and you do great things, guess what happens? I think Cal Ripken played shortstop for 22 straight years, or something like that, didn’t he?”

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