Red Wings at Penguins preview

RED WINGS (15-17-6) at PENGUINS (18-12-6)
7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-PT, FS-D, NHL.TV

Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 7-2 during a three-game winning streak and is 5-1-0 in its past six games. A four-game winning streak would match its longest this season (won four straight from Oct. 18-27).
Goalie Matt Murray will start for the Penguins. He is 3-0-0 with a 1.30 goals-against average, .964 save percentage and one shutout since returning from a lower-body injury.
The Red Wings have lost two straight, six of their past seven (1-4-2) and nine of their past 12 (3-6-3) entering Thursday. Each of their past four losses has been decided by one goal.

Players to watch

Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has five points (two goals, three assists) on a three-game point streak. He has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 15 games.

They said it

"Hope the break cooled [the Penguins] off. ... You can't defend all night. They're like Toronto. They're going to make a bunch of plays if you defend all night." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"We took the break. A couple guys had small injuries and had the chance to heal up and kind of rest up." -- Penguins defenseman Kris Letang

Red Wings projected lineup

Justin Abdelkader -- Dylan Larkin -- Gustav Nyquist
Thomas Vanek -- Frans Nielsen -- Andreas Athanasiou
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Luke Glendening -- Michael Rasmussen
Christoffer Ehn -- Jacob de la Rose -- Luke Witkowski
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Dennis Cholowski -- Trevor Daley
Jonathan Ericsson -- Filip Hronek
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Martin Frk, Wade Megan
Injured: Darren Helm (upper body), Danny DeKeyser (upper body), Mike Green (lower body), Anthony Mantha (hand)

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Dominik Simon -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Tanner Pearson -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Zach Aston-Reese -- Matt Cullen -- Riley Sheahan
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Marcus Pettersson -- Jack Johnson
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Chad Ruhwedel, Derek Grant
Injured: Justin Schultz (left leg fracture), Jamie Oleksiak (concussion)

Status report

Athanasiou is expected to return after missing two games with an upper-body injury, Blashill said. ... Oleksiak will miss a third straight game with a concussion. He wore a white no-contact jersey during morning skate Thursday.

Stat pack

The Red Wings have won four of their past five games against the Penguins. ... The Penguins are 8-3-1 in December. Their 17 points this month are third most in the NHL behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (21) and Winnipeg Jets (20).