Red Wings at Blues preview

RED WINGS (26-37-10) at BLUES (38-27-8)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-D, NHL.TV

The Blues are five points behind the Nashville Predators and have played one fewer game. They have a two-point lead on the Dallas Stars for third in the Central. Nashville and Dallas each play Thursday.
The Red Wings have won two straight and are looking for their first three game winning streak since Jan. 22-Feb. 2.

Players to watch

Red Wings center Andreas Athanasiou has four goals in his past two games and leads the team with 28.
Blues forward Jaden Schwartz had his third four-point game in the NHL (three goals, one assist) in a 7-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

They said it

"I think in this League, you're trying out every day. If you don't take that approach, you're in trouble. Certainly at this point in the season, not just the new guys, I think everybody's vying to show that there's something that can help us win more games next year." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill
"They've got a lot of speed in their lineup. They've got a few of young guys that we're not too familiar with that are playing. They're skilled and they're fast." -- Blues coach Craig Berube on the Red Wings

Red Wings projected lineup

Darren Helm -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Tyler Bertuzzi -- Andreas Athanasiou -- Luke Glendening
Thomas Vanek -- Frans Nielsen --
Taro Hirose
Christoffer Ehn
-- Michael Rasmussen --
Ryan Kuffner
Danny DeKeyser -- Filip Hronek
Niklas Kronwall -- Madison Bowey
Brian Lashoff
-- Luke Witkowski
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched: Libor Sulak](https://www.nhl.com/player/libor-sulak-8480161) (illness)
Injured:Trevor Daley (back), Jonathan Ericsson (lower body), Justin Abdelkader (leg), Mike Green (virus), Jacob de la Rose (accelerated heartbeat)

Blues projected lineup

Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz -- Oskar Sundqvist -- David Perron
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Alexander Steen -- Ivan Barbashev -- Zach Sanford
Vince Dunn -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Michael Del Zotto -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jordan Binnington
Jake Allen
Scratched:Robby Fabbri, Mackenzie MacEachern
Injured: Joel Edmundson (lower body), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body), Sammy Blais (lower body)

Status report

The Red Wings did not hold a morning skate. ... De la Rose returned to Detroit and is not expected back for the remainder of the road trip. ... Daley likely will miss the remainder of the season, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Wednesday. ... Ericsson could return Monday. ... Sundqvist left the game in the third period Tuesday after getting cross-checked by Oilers forward Milan Lucic but will play. ... Edmundson, Gunnarsson and Blais are getting closer to a return, but will not play.

Stat pack

The Red Wings had one win (1-9-3) in their previous 13 games prior to winning two in a row. ... Perron has a personal NHL career-high 16-game point streak (nine goals, 12 assists). ... Binnington is 14-3-0 with a 1.70 goals-against average, .932 save percentage and four shutouts in his past 17 starts.