Red Wings at Blackhawks preview
Detroit has lost seven of eight; Crawford to start for Chicago
by Brandon Cain / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
RED WINGS (10-29-3) at BLACKHAWKS (18-18-6)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV
The Game
Corey Crawford will make his first start in almost two weeks for the Chicago Blackhawks when they host the Detroit Red Wings at United Center on Sunday.
Crawford hasn't played since he was pulled after allowing four goals on 20 shots in a 7-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 23. He will start in place of Robin Lehner, who is day to day with a right-knee injury.
Chicago has won five of its past seven games after going 1-4-1 in its previous six.
Detroit has lost seven of its past eight games, including going 0-4-0 on the road in that span.
Players to watch
Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi has scored five goals in his past nine games.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past two games and 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 10.
They said it
"We work too hard to try to create offense, we work too hard to try to create O-zone time, to give away easy chances. So we have to be better than that and our special teams have to be better." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"We need the points. Regardless of who we're playing, we're not in the position to take anyone lightly." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
Red Wings projected lineup
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Robby Fabbri
Givani Smith -- Valtteri Filppula -- Filip Zadina
Darren Helm -- Frans Nielsen -- Luke Glendening
Adam Erne -- Christoffer Ehn -- Justin Abdelkader
Patrik Nemeth -- Filip Hronek
Madison Bowey -- Trevor Daley
Brian Lashoff -- Mike Green
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched: Alex Biega, Brendan Perlini
Injured: Andreas Athanasiou (lower body), Danny DeKeyser (back), Jonathan Ericsson (face), Anthony Mantha (upper body)
Blackhawks projected lineup
Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- John Quenneville
Alex DeBrincat -- Kirby Dach -- Dylan Strome
Dylan Sikura -- Ryan Carpenter -- Patrick Kane
Zack Smith -- David Kampf -- Matthew Highmore
Duncan Keith -- Adam Boqvist
Erik Gustafsson -- Connor Murphy
Olli Maatta -- Dennis Gilbert
Corey Crawford
Kevin Lankinen
Scratched: Alex Nylander, Slater Koekkoek
Injured: Drake Caggiula (concussion protocol), Calvin de Haan (right shoulder), Robin Lehner (right knee), Brandon Saad (right ankle), Brent Seabrook (right shoulder/left and right hip), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol)
Status report
Detroit did not hold a morning skate. … Nylander will be the healthy scratch for a third straight game.
Stat pack
Detroit is 0-for-14 on the power play in its past five games. … Maatta will play in his 400th NHL game. … Kubalik has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past four games.