Penguins at Red Wings preview

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.