PREVIEW: Red Wings back at Little Caesars Arena to face Avalanche on Thursday

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings will host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday for the third and final Hockeytown Heritage Night at Little Caesars Arena this season.

Puck drop between Detroit (29-20-6; 64 points) and Colorado (35-18-4; 74 points) is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). The first 7,500 fans in attendance will receive a Darren McCarty Stick Case, presented by Coca-Cola Zero Sugar.

After winning the last two games of their four-game road trip, the Red Wings are set to play on home ice for just the second time this month and are looking to build off a 4-3 overtime victory against the Seattle Kraken on Monday. It marked Detroit’s sixth overtime win this season, trailing only the Dallas Stars and New York Rangers, who are tied for first in the NHL with seven OT victories apiece.

“Our two wins on the tail end of the road trip were goaltending,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Special teams are going well. If we’re going to continue to stay in this battle, it’s going to be about keeping it out of our net. Obviously we had a shutout (in Calgary) and kept it to three or less (goals) in Seattle to give us an opportunity in overtime. Still a long way to go. It’s just going to get tougher.”

Lalonde said teams tend to start flat after returning from long road trips, so it’s important Detroit is ready to play from the opening faceoff on Thursday.

J.T. Compher, who spent his first seven NHL seasons (2016-23) with the Avalanche, agreed with Lalonde.

“You got to start on time or we’ll find ourselves in a hole,” said Compher, who is on a four-game point streak. “It’s about defensively playing the right way. I think when we’re aggressive defensively and on top of teams, we’re hard to play against.”

Compher looks back fondly on his time in Colorado, where he won a Stanley Cup championship in 2022.

“Good memories with a lot of guys in the room still,” Compher said. “That’s a good hockey team. We got to be ready to go. If you know anything from being there for a while, you know that’s a very dangerous team. We got to be very detailed and ready to play.”

The Avalanche rank second in the Western Conference’s Central Division and have won three of their last four games, most recently a 3-1 victory against the NHL-leading Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

Nathan MacKinnon is amidst a Hart Trophy-caliber campaign, ranking second in the NHL in points (92) and assists (59) while fifth in goals (33). Mikko Rantanen (29 goals, 42 assists) and Cale Makar (13 goals, 47 assists) have combined for 131 points this season. In 47 games for Colorado, goalie Alexandar Georgiev is 30-13-2 with a 2.90 goals-against average, .899 save percentage and two shutouts.

The Red Wings and Avalanche will finish their season series at Ball Arena on March 6.