Red Wings at Maple Leafs preview

RED WINGS (12-12-4) at MAPLE LEAFS (20-8-0)
7 p.m. ET; SNO, FS-D, NHL.TV

The forward who was a restricted free agent and missed the first 27 games of the season, signed a six-year contract worth $6.9 million annually on Saturday. He was a healthy scratch in a 4-3 overtime win against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. He had 61 points in each of his past two NHL seasons.
Goaltender Garret Sparks will start for the Maple Leafs, who are looking for their season-high sixth straight win and have scored four goals or more in five-straight games.
Goalie Jonathan Bernier could start for the Red Wings, who have lost two in a row and are 2-3-2 in their past seven games.

Players to watch

Red Wings forward Frans Nielsen had a hat trick in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Nielsen has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games.
Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews scored twice including the overtime winner against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Matthews has 15 goals in 14 games this season and seven points (five goals, two assists) in three games since returning after missing 14 games with a shoulder injury.

They said it

"If you don't gap and you don't pressure, you're in huge trouble. If you're trying to gap and they get behind you, they've got a great stretch game. Without a shadow of a doubt, you take their stretch game away by pressuring. We're going to have to keep our pressure high."-- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashhill on the Maple Leafs offense
"It's been fun watching them play but you want to be there as well. I'm just excited to be here finally and joining the boys. I'm really excited to start on home ice and get the season going."-- Maple Leafs forward William Nylander

Red Wings projected lineup

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

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Andreas Johnsson -- Nazem Kadri -- Kasperi Kapanen
Tyler Ennis -- Par Lindholm -- Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Igor Ozhiganov
Garret Sparks
Frederik Andersen
Scratched:Frederik Gauthier, Martin Marincin, Justin Holl
Injured:None

Status report

The Red Wings recalled defenseman Brian Lashoff from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League but he is not expected to play. … Daley is day-to-day. ... DeKesyer is expected to miss at least 4-6 week because of a hand injury.

Stat pack

Nyquist has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past five games. … Marner has 11 assists during a five-game point streak and is one point from becoming the third Maple Leafs player in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to have 40 points in 30 or fewer games... Rielly has three assists during a three-game point streak.