Red Wings at Avalanche preview

RED WINGS (23-33-9) at AVALANCHE (28-26-12)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-D, NHL.TV

The Avalanche are three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference and three behind the Dallas Stars for the first wild card. They are 1-2-1 in their past four games after winning four in a row.
Goalie Jonathan Bernier will start for the Red Wings, who will try to end a seven-game losing streak (0-5-2). Detroit has been outscored 33-17 during the skid while allowing at least five goals in three of its past five games.

Players to watch

Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha has eight points (two goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak and 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his past nine games.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov is 5-2-1 with a 2.12 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and one shutout in his past eight starts.

They said it

"We've had good progress from a number of young guys. I think our team is growing. I think our identity is growing. For the majority of the season I think we deserved potentially a better fate in a number of games, but yet our record is what it is." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"I just haven't felt like we got on the gas from an offensive standpoint early in games recently. We have to go try and seize the game, take it from the other team. I haven't felt like we've been the aggressor early in the hockey games." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Luke Glendening -- Andreas Athanasiou -- Filip Zadina
Thomas Vanek - Frans Nielsen - Darren Helm
Justin Abdelkader -- Jacob de la Rose -- Michael Rasmussen
Niklas Kronwall -- Trevor Daley
Danny DeKeyser -- Filip Hronek
Madison Bowey -- Jonathan Ericsson
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched: Luke Witkowski
Injured:Mike Green (virus), Evgeny Svechnikov (knee)

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Colin Wilson -- Carl Soderberg -- J.T. Compher
Derick Brassard -- Tyson Jost -- Matt Calvert
Alex Kerfoot -- Sheldon Dries -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Nikita Zadorov
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Gabriel Bourque, Ryan Graves
Injured:Mark Barberio (leg), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Matt Nieto (leg)

Status report

Green is expected to be out 7-10 days … Vanek will play after missing three games with a lower-body injury … Daley will play after missing two games with a back injury.

Stat pack

Larkin has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games … Helm needs one goal for 100 in the NHL … Landeskog has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his past eight games.