At the Rink: Predators at Red Wings

DETROIT -- Forward Joakim Andersson will be in the lineup for the Detroit Red Wings when they play the Nashville Predators at Joe Louis Arena Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-TN, FS-D).

Detroit will be without forwards Drew Miller (broken jaw) and Teemu Pulkkinen (dislocated shoulder) who each sustained an injury in a 5-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes Thursday.

Andersson was a healthy scratch for the past nine games and doesn't have a point in 11 games.

"[Andersson] played well when he's played this year," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "He hasn't got much opportunity and sometimes it gets misconstrued when a guy comes out of the lineup that he hasn't played well. It might just mean we think that other guys are ahead of him, but it doesn't mean that he's not a very good hockey player."

Miller played on the fourth line along with Luke Glendening and was one of Detroit's top penalty killers. Andersson will step into that role.

"I think he's is a very good hockey player. I think he's a winner," Blashill said. "I think he's a very good penalty killer. I think he's very accountable defensively and he can win face-offs."

Detroit (14-8-4) has points in its past nine games (6-0-3), its longest streak since the 2009-10 season.

Goals have been hard to come by for Nashville (13-8-4) which has scored two or fewer goals in six of its past eight games.

"They're not dropping right now for us," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "We're doing a lot of good things to create chances, but they're just not going in. … We can maybe do a little better job in front of the net."

Predators captain Shea Weber talked about the challenge presented by the Red Wings.

"They're still a puck possession team. They hold onto the puck and shoot from everywhere and they have speed," he said. "We've just got to stick with our system. We've been getting a lot of chances."

Here are the projected lineups

PREDATORS

Filip Forsberg - Mike Ribeiro - Cody Hodgson

Viktor Arvidsson - Calle Jarnkrok - James Neal

Colin Wilson - Colton Sissons - Craig Smith

Eric Nystrom - Paul Gaustad - Austin Watson

Roman Josi - Shea Weber

Barret Jackman - Seth Jones

Mattias Ekholm - Ryan Ellis

Pekka Rinne

Carter Hutton

Injured: Mike Fisher (lower body), Gabriel Bourque (undisclosed)

Scratched: Anthony Bitetto

RED WINGS

Pavel Datsyuk - Henrik Zetterberg - Justin Abdelkader

Gustav Nyquist - Riley Sheahan - Tomas Tatar

Darren Helm - Brad Richards - Dylan Larkin

Joakim Andersson - Luke Glendening - Tomas Jurco

Niklas Kronwall - Mike Green

Danny DeKeyser - Jonathan Ericsson

Brendan Smith - Alexey Marchenko

Petr Mrazek

Jimmy Howard

Injured: Drew Miller (broken jaw), Teemu Pulkkinen (dislocated shoulder), Johan Franzen (concussion), Kyle Quincey (ankle)

Scratched: Jakub Kindl

Status update: Laviolette said Hodgson, a natural center, has adjusted well to playing the wing … Jurco played one game and had been a healthy scratch for the past two games after being recalled from Grand Rapids of the AHL.

Who's hot: Josi scored in Nashville's 2-1 loss against the Florida Panthers Thursday … Abdelkader has three goals and an assist in his past two games.