Maple Leafs at Red Wings preview

MAPLE LEAFS (20-12-1) at RED WINGS (11-13-7)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, TSN4, NHL.TV

Matthews hasn't played since taking an accidental hit to the head from teammate Morgan Rielly late in the third period of a 4-3 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Maple Leafs have lost their past two games, including a 2-0 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Detroit is 0-1-2 in its past three games and 1-5-5 in its past 11. In each of their past two games, against the Florida Panthers and Boston Bruins, the Red Wings have taken a 1-0 lead into the third period and lost in overtime.

Players to watch

Toronto forward William Nylander has one point, an assist, in his past six games after getting six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game point streak.
Detroit center Henrik Zetterberg has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past 10 games, and snapped a 22-game goal drought, the longest of his NHL career, in the loss to Florida on Monday.

They said it

"We had a lot of opportunities and a lot of good looks [against Minnesota]. I thought we did a lot of good things and played a good road game. We just have to execute our chances." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock.
"We have to play like a desperate team after these last 10 or 11 games. We need to find a way to start scoring more goals and protecting leads when we get them." -- Red Wings center Dylan Larkin.

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Leo Komarov -- Nazem Kadri -- William Nylander
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Zach Hyman -- Patrick Marleau -- Mitchell Marner
Matt Martin -- Dominic Moore -- Josh Leivo
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Andreas Borgman -- Roman Polak
Curtis McElhinney
Frederik Andersen
Scratched: Connor Carrick, Kasperi Kapanen
Injured: Nikita Soshnikov (lower body), Auston Matthews (upper body)

Red Wings projected lineup

Anthony Mantha -- Dylan Larkin -- Tomas Tatar
Justin Abdelkader -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Luke Glendening -- Frans Nielsen -- Darren Helm
Martin Frk -- Andreas Athanasiou
Danny DeKeyser -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Luke Witkowski
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Scratched:Xavier Ouellet, David Booth
Injured:None

Status report

The Maple Leafs did not have a morning skate. ... McElhinney is scheduled to start the second half of the back to back. He made 41 saves Sunday in a 1-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers. … Detroit is expected to stay with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Witkowski the extra defenseman and an emergency forward.

Stat pack

McElhinney made 30 saves in a 6-3 victory against the Red Wings at Air Canada Centre on Oct. 18. In that game, Toronto scored on three of its first four shots against Howard. … The Red Wings have scored two goals or fewer in seven of their past 10 games.