Maple Leafs at Red Wings preview

MAPLE LEAFS (3-1-0) at RED WINGS (0-1-2)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, TSN4, NHL.TV

Matthews, who leads the NHL with seven goals, and John Tavares (six goals) are the first teammates to each score at least six goals in their team's first four games since Wayne Gretzky and Luc Robitaille did it with the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89.
The Red Wings, who have lost their first three games, will be without four defensemen because of injury, including rookie Dennis Cholowski, who is tied for the team lead with three points (one goal, two assists).
Jimmy Howard (2.36 goals-against average, .924 save percentage) will make his third start for Detroit.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in four games. He joins Harry Cameron (Toronto Arenas, 1917-18) and Pat Stapleton (Chicago Black Hawks, 1967-68) as the only NHL defensemen to score at least 10 points in his team's first four games.
Red Wings center Dylan Larkin is tied for the team lead with three points (one goal, two assists).

They said it

"I couldn't be happier with the transition to playing in Toronto. I'm still adjusting to things, but playing this well makes it much easier." -- Maple Leafs center John Tavares
"It will be huge to get our first win and take the pressure off ourselves. We've gone to overtime a couple times, but we've got to finish off one of these games and get two points." -- Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Patrick Marleau -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Par Lindholm -- Nazem Kadri -- Connor Brown
Josh Leivo -- Frederik Gauthier -- Tyler Ennis
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Martin Marincin
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched: Andreas Johnsson, Justin Holl, Igor Ozhiganov
Injured: None

Red Wings projected lineup

Justin Abdelkader -- Dylan Larkin -- Anthony Mantha
Michael Rasmussen -- Frans Nielsen -- Tyler Bertuzzi
Thomas Vanek -- Andreas Athanasiou -- Gustav Nyquist
Darren Helm -- Luke Glendening -- Christoffer Ehn
Danny DeKeyser -- Filip Hronek
Libor Sulak -- Joe Hicketts
Nick Jensen -- Niklas Kronwall
Jimmy Howard
Jonathan Bernier
Scratched: Luke Witkowski, Martin Frk
Injured: Jonathan Ericsson (upper body), Mike Green (illness), Evgeny Svechnikov (undisclosed), Trevor Daley (upper body), Dennis Cholowski (upper body)

Status report

Kronwall will play after missing the first three games of the season with a lower-body injury. He replaces Cholowski, who was injured against the Kings on Sunday.

Stat pack

Marner has eight points (two goals, six assists) during a three-game point streak. … Marleau needs two assists for 600 in his NHL career. … Bertuzzi is the only Red Wings player with two goals this season.