Boychuk has missed 18 games because of a lower-body injury but was activated from injured reserve Friday. New York has the worst defense in the NHL; it is averaging 35.3 shots-against per game and has allowed a League-high 201 goals in 55 games. The Islanders have allowed at least four goals in 14 of their past 18 games, including a 4-3 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.

Detroit has lost its past two games. Friday begins a stretch in which the Red Wings play 10 games in 17 days.

Players to watch

Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek is 4-1-1 with a 1.30 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage in his past six starts.

Islanders center John Tavares has three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak.

They said it

"There's a huge urgency of the games we have coming. The games we have ahead of us will make the latter games matter if you take care of business. We need to make those games matter at the end of the year by winning right now. Certainly the games we have coming up are critical, but they're not any more critical than the ones that we've had, but they're critical. It's a critical junction." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

"We can't afford to lose hockey games." -- Islanders coach Doug Weight

Red Wings projected lineup

Anthony Mantha -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist

Tomas Tatar -- Dylan Larkin -- Andreas Athanasiou

Darren Helm -- Frans Nielsen -- Justin Abdelkader

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Luke Glendening -- Martin Frk

Danny DeKeyser -- Nick Jensen

Niklas Kronwall -- Mike Green

Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley

Petr Mrazek

Jimmy Howard

Scratched: Dominic Turgeon, Luke Witkowski, Xavier Ouellet

Injured: None

Islanders projected lineup

Anthony Beauvillier -- John Tavares -- Josh Bailey

Anders Lee -- Mathew Barzal -- Jordan Eberle

Andrew Ladd -- Brock Nelson -- Cal Clutterbuck

Ross Johnston -- Casey Cizikas -- Jason Chimera

Nick Leddy -- Johnny Boychuk

Adam Pelech -- Sebastian Aho

Thomas Hickey -- Ryan Pulock

Thomas Greiss

Jaroslav Halak

Scratched: Alan Quine, Dennis Seidenberg

Injured: Tanner Fritz (undisclosed), Nikolay Kulemin (upper body), Calvin de Haan (upper body), Scott Mayfield (lower body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. … Zetterberg had a maintenance day Thursday but is expected to play. … Greiss is expected to start after Halak played in Buffalo.

Stat pack

The Red Wings have scored two goals or fewer in nine of their past 12 games. Mantha has one point in his past nine games. … Nelson, Bailey and Leddy all have three-game point streaks. The Islanders are 11-16-4 in their past 31 games.