Mittelstadt had been on the shelf with a knee injury since November 6 and didn't even make the just-completed tip to to the West Coast and Long Island. But with both David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha out with unspecified maladies, desperate times called for a desperate measure. And so, without the benefit of a team practice (something that is usually imperative for a player out that long), Mittelstadt was pressed back into action.