Penguins at Red Wings preview

PENGUINS (29-13-5) at RED WINGS (12-32-3)
7:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-D, SN, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The Penguins, who lost 4-1 to the Boston Bruins on Thursday, are 12-3-1 in their past 16 games, and have not lost consecutive games since Nov. 29-30.
Matt Murray could start in goal for Pittsburgh after Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in the loss to the Bruins.
Jimmy Howard is expected to start for the Red Wings, who have been outscored 13-3 in consecutive losses to the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders. Howard is 0-11-1 with an .850 save percentage in his past 12 games and hasn't won since Oct. 29.

Players to watch

Penguins center Sidney Crosby has five points (two goals, three assists) in his first two games back after missing 28 games following core-muscle surgery.
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a seven-game point streak.

They said it

"There were points where we got outplayed. We definitely had some chances and could have gotten back in the game. Look at our power play, and zone time in general, they controlled more. We just weren't good enough tonight." -- Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby on the loss to the Bruins
"It obviously helps any team when they get one of the best players in the world back into their lineup, especially when they already have (Evgeni) Malkin. Everyone knows how good the Penguins are when they have the puck on their sticks, so we're going to have to win every puck battle and every puck race."-- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Penguins projected lineup

Jared McCann -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Alex Galchenyuk -- Andrew Agozzino -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Juuso Riikola -- Chad Ruhwedel
Matt Murray
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Kevin Czuczman, Sam Lafferty
Injured: Nick Bjugstad (core muscle surgery), Brian Dumoulin (ankle surgery), Justin Schultz (lower body), Jake Guentzel (shoulder surgery)

Red Wings projected lineup

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

Status report

The Penguins did not hold a morning skate. … The Red Wings held an optional skate.

Stat pack

Malkin has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games. … Rust has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … Detroit is 5-20-2 in its past 27 games.