PREVIEW: Red Wings hit the ice in Tampa Bay on Saturday

TAMPA BAY -- Another Atlantic Division clash in the Sunshine State is up next for the Detroit Red Wings, who will go head-to-head with the Tampa Bay Lightning at AMALIE Arena on Saturday night.

Saturday marks the first meeting of the season series between the Red Wings (21-19-4; 46 points) and Lightning (24-16-3; 51 points). Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (WWJ Newsradio 950 in Detroit). Detroit and Tampa Bay will meet again in a week (Jan. 25) at Little Caesars Arena.

The Red Wings took the first game of their four-game road trip, scoring three power-play goals in a 5-3 victory over the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Captain Dylan Larkin was an offensive standout, recording two goals and an assist for his first three-point game of the season, and netminder Cam Talbot also shined with 41 saves.

Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said how his club played against the defending Stanley Cup champions and overall, how they’ve responded to challenges since he took over behind the bench, has been encouraging.

“There’s always going to be setbacks,” McLellan said. “There’s no such thing as a perfect group or player, but the challenges they’ve accepted and have tried to apply themselves. I think [on Saturday], we’ll have another big challenge: a very good hockey club on the road. Coming off a little bit of a high for the group, we’ll see how they respond.”

Third in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning improved to 3-1-1 in their last five games after outlasting the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout, 4-3, on Thursday.

Riding a seven-game, 11-point streak, Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay and ranks third in the NHL in scoring with 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists). Brandon Hagel (20 goals, 29 assists) is second on the club with 49 points and Brayden Point is next with 48 points (26 goals, 22 assists).

In 34 games this season, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has a 19-13-2 record with a 2.40 goals-against average and .913 save percentage with a pair of shutouts.

“They have some skilled players,” Simon Edvinsson said about the Lightning. “They have one of the best players with the puck and a great power play, so we’re going to play as we did last game. We need to win all our duels and just find a way to beat them, so it’s going to be a huge game for us [on Saturday].”

Edvinsson added that he’s excited for another chance to compete against one of his childhood NHL idols Victor Hedman. This season, Hedman has 35 points (seven goals, 28 assists) for Tampa Bay.

“I took some stuff from guys that I really like,” Edvinsson said. “Hedman was one of those guys. Just how smart he is with and without the puck, that’s something that I really want to take to my game as well.”