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game preview

Red Wings at Maple Leafs preview

Toronto goes for 13th straight home win; Detroit has lost 11 of past 12

by Dave McCarthy / NHL.com Correspondent

RED WINGS (27-36-11) at MAPLE LEAFS (44-23-7)

7 p.m. ET; CBC, FS-D, NHL.TV

 

The Game

The Toronto Maple Leafs will try for their 13th straight home win when they play the Detroit Red Wings at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

The Maple Leafs have won five of their past six games after a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). They have scored at least three goals in each of their past seven games. A victory will move them within five points of the second-place Boston Bruins in the Atlantic Division.

The Red Wings, who were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoffs contention with a 1-0 loss to the Washington Capitals on Thursday, are 1-10-1 in their past 12 games.

 

Players to watch

Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past four games. He leads the Red Wings in scoring with 53 points (11 goals, 42 assists) in 74 games.

Maple Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk has 10 points (eight goals, two assists) in his past five games. He leads the Maple Leafs with an NHL career-high 34 goals.

 

They said it

"Our team has competed hard, we've worked extremely hard, we've played with good structure but we haven't won enough games and that's not OK. We don't want to be a team that plays pretty good and loses, we want to be a team that plays great and wins. Don't rely on fate; demand that you get the win." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

"All these games matter, so it doesn't really matter who or when, you've got to be ready to play. It doesn't matter if it's an emotional game or not, you've got to play hockey." -- Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews

 

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist

Darren Helm -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha

Andreas Athanasiou -- Frans Nielsen -- Justin Abdelkader

Martin Frk -- Luke Glendening -- Evgeny Svechnikov

Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley

Danny DeKeyser -- Nick Jensen

Niklas Kronwall -- Xavier Ouellet

Jimmy Howard

Jared Coreau

Scratched: David Booth, Luke Witkowski

Injured: Mike Green (spine)

 

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander

Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitchell Marner

James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown

Andreas Johnsson -- Tomas Plekanec -- Kasperi Kapanen

Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev

Travis Dermott -- Roman Polak

Frederik Andersen

Curtis McElhinney

Scratched: Josh Leivo, Matt Martin, Dominic Moore, Connor Carrick

Injured: Leo Komarov (left leg)

 

Status report

Komarov will miss his fourth straight game and remains day-to-day.

 

Stat pack

The Red Wings have allowed at least four goals in nine of their past 11 games and have scored no more than two in six of their past eight. … Marner has three goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak. Bozak has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games. Rielly has 10 assists in his past seven games.

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