Flyers at Red Wings preview

FLYERS (28-17-7) at RED WINGS (12-37-4)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, NBCSP+, NHL.TV

Athanasiou replaces forward Filip Zadina (lower body), who is out 2-3 weeks. He'll try to help the Red Wings end an eight-game winless streak (0-7-1) during which they've been outscored 34-12.
The Flyers are coming off a 6-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, their fifth victory in seven games (5-1-1). Philadelphia is 8-0-2 against Detroit since the start of the 2016-17 season.

Players to watch

Flyers center Sean Couturier has 16 points (three goals, 13 assists) in his past 12 games.
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has 13 points (four points, nine assists) in his past 13 games.

They said it

"This is the best time of the season because every game matters and you know you have to pick up your game. We need all of our players to elevate their games to let us perform at the level we need to reach." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault
"We really wish we were adding players at this point. It would be great to have Andreas (Athanasiou) back on the second line and not lose Filip (Zadina) off the top line, but that's not how it worked out. It is nice to have Athanasiou coming back at a point where we can plug him to what (Zadina) has been doing." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Flyers projected lineup

James van Riemsdyk -- Claude Giroux -- Travis Konecny
Joel Farabee -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek
Scott Laughton -- Kevin Hayes -- Tyler Pitlick
Michael Raffl -- Connor Bunnaman -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen
Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers
Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun
Brian Elliott
Alex Lyon
Scratched:None
Injured:Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee), Carter Hart (abdominal strain)

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Andreas Athanasiou
Brendan Perlini -- Valtteri Filppula -- Robby Fabbri
Darren Helm -- Luke Glendening -- Adam Erne
Justin Abdelkader -- Christoffer Ehn -- Givani Smith
Patrik Nemeth -- Filip Hronek
Trevor Daley -- Alex Biega
Madison Bowey -- Dennis Cholowski
Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard
Scratched:Jonathan Ericsson
Injured:Danny DeKeyser (back), Anthony Mantha (upper body), Filip Zadina (lower body), Mike Green (finger), Frans Nielsen (upper body)

Status report

Gostisbehere should return against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, Vigneault said. The defenseman has missed nine games. … Hart and Patrick are making progress but Vigneault doesn't have an exact timeline for the goalie and forward. … Nielsen said he is feeling better every day but isn't ready to return. He and fellow forward Mantha skated with the Red Wings on Monday.

Stat pack

Farabee's two goals against Colorado gave him his first multigoal game in the NHL. … Giroux needs three points for 800 in the NHL. … Green needs two points for 500 in the NHL, and one assist for 350.