PREVIEW: Red Wings push forward on four-game road trip, battle the Blues on Tuesday

ST. LOUIS -- Facing off for the second time in the past 10 days and concluding their two-game season series in the process, the Detroit Red Wings will visit the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night.

“It’s never easy to win on the road, but I think just being together for a couple days and trying to build the chemistry [helps],” Marco Kasper said. “Just go out there now, play a fast and hard game, skate a lot and don’t let them feel comfortable at home.”

Detroit (7-8-3; 17 points) and St. Louis (7-8-2; 16 points) will drop the puck at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT, with TV broadcast coverage airing exclusively on TNT and HBO MAX. Ken Kal and Stu Grimson will have the call on 97.1 The Ticket, the Red Wings’ flagship radio station.

The Red Wings are looking to bounce back from the opener of their four-game road trip, a 4-0 shutout loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday. Detroit played well early on, even holding a 13-1 shot advantage late in the first period, but ultimately couldn’t get anything behind Colorado netminder Mackenize Blackwood.

“I thought our first period, we were really good and then shot ourselves in the foot a little bit,” Mason Appleton said. “They got on the power play and started feeling good, then we didn’t score.”

When discussing Detroit’s lineup following Tuesday’s morning skate at Enterprise Center, head coach Todd McLellan shared that Carter Mazur will be a healthy scratch while both Kasper and Appleton – they were activated from injured reserve before the club went on the ice – are set to slot back in. Goalie John Gibson, who missed the last two games with a lower-body injury, will also start between the pipes.

“He’s played quite well,” McLellan said of Mazur. “Has found his game, but we need to get both (Kasper and Appleton) going. Now, it’ll be very competitive for jobs.”

Before sustaining their respective injuries, Kasper played only on Opening Night and Appleton appeared in that game and the following one. Both have been back practicing with the team since Oct. 30.

“I think there will be some energy from both of them,” McLellan said. “I know they’re excited about playing, but we have to look at it realistically...The injuries that they had prevented them from doing a whole lot early in their rehabs, so we got to temper our expectations, but we also expect them to be energized and give us their best.”

The Blues are on a three-game losing streak of their own after dropping a 3-1 loss to the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday. Five players have double-digit point totals for St. Louis this season, led by Philip Broberg with 13 on four goals and nine assists.

Tuesday’s game also marks Justin Faulk’s first back at Enterprise Center since being acquired by the Red Wings in a trade with the Blues last March. The 34-year-old defenseman spent parts of seven seasons (2019-26) with St. Louis, finishing with 232 points (56 goals, 176 assists) in 482 regular-season games.

“(Faulk) has provided us with so much jump night after night,” McLellan said. “He’s been a real good player for us. He’s going to be excited to play here, and I’d like to think that the other 19 guys that are dressed with him tonight are excited for him and will give him the best effort they possibly can. It’s usually the way it goes when a veteran player that’s been in an organization for a long time returns, so I know he really appreciated his time here. He speaks highly of the community, fans and organization.”