PREVIEW: Red Wings hit the road for three game-trek, aim to finish regular-season series sweep of Maple Leafs on Wednesday

TORONTO -- Coming off a successful two-game homestand, the Detroit Red Wings will try to sustain that momentum when they play the front half of a midweek back-to-back set -- also the start of a three-game road trip -- against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night.

“In this League at this time of the year everything is tight and you have got to put points in the bank at home,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “We did it in different ways, everybody contributed and the game was fairly solid. Now, we’ve got to take that game and go on the road, which we’ve been able to do lately. But this isn’t going to be an easy trip by any means. A tough place to start it here in Toronto.”

Puck drop between the two Atlantic Division and Original Six rivals is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage airing exclusively on TNT and HBO MAX. Ken Kal and Paul Woods will have the call on the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

Notably, Detroit (30-16-4; 64 points) is also looking to sweep the regular-season series (minimum four games) of Toronto (24-17-8; 56 points) for just the second time in franchise history following the 1995-96 campaign, when it went 5-0-0.

“I don’t know if there’s one secret recipe,” Andrew Copp said when asked what’s behind the Red Wings’ success versus the Maple Leafs this season. “They have a lot of good players over there. They’re playing pretty good right now. The whole Atlantic Division has been on a bit of a streak, so we’re focused on us playing well and we’ll make some little changes to whatever system they’re running.”

Continuing to play well itself, Detroit improved to 6-1-0 in its past seven games with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. Three different Red Wings skaters scored in regulation (Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Lucas Raymond and James van Riemsdyk) scored in regulation before Alex DeBrincat came through 36 seconds into the extra frame.

“We played some good offense the last two games,” Marco Kasper said. “We limited chances and got off to a good start against San Jose [on Friday], not so much against Ottawa [on Sunday]. For [Wednesday], I think it’ll be important to get off to a good start and just keep on building on the last two wins.”

As for Toronto, which is just two points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot, its coming off a 6-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday. Even with that recent setback, the Maple Leafs are still 6-2-2 in their past 10 games.

“They’re a really good hockey club,” McLellan said. “They went through some spells, but all teams do that. They’re on home ice…They have some key people playing pretty well right now, and we expect their best. We got to be prepared and ready to go.”

Despite missing 12 games this season, William Nylander, who will not play on Wednesday because of a lower-body injury, still leads the Maple Leafs with 48 points (17 goals, 31 assists). John Tavares has the second-most points on the team with 43 (18 goals, 25 assists) and captain Auston Matthews is third with 42 (25 goals, 17 assists).

Goalie Joseph Woll is 11-5-3 with a 2.90 goals-against average and .910 save percentage with two shutouts in 20 games.

“When you’re hot and feeling good, you can score from just about anywhere on the ice,” McLellan said of Matthews, who has racked up 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in his last 10 contests. “He’s feeling it right now. He can take over a game just on his own, but they’ve got a lot of other players that are playing well and that have been effective over the last little bit."