PREVIEW: Red Wings reach end of four-game road trip, face Stars on Saturday

DALLAS -- In the Lone Star State for the finale of their four-game road trip, the Detroit Red Wings will take on the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday night.

“Obviously, we’re down some bodies right now,” Ben Chiarot said. “It’s going to take everybody to step up and bring their best game. Offensively, everyone needs to pitch in. Defensively, be tighter. That’s when we’re playing our best, when we’re not giving up anything.”

Puck drop between Detroit (36-23-7; 79 points) and Dallas (41-14-10; 92 points) is set for 8 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. CT, with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

“We’re going to have to check for our chances,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “And I thought, for the most part in Tampa, we did a pretty good job of that to open the game up a little bit at the end to try and come back. But in some of the games, there’s been that one moment – we’ve talked about that a little bit – or moments where we’re on the wrong side of a situation that we can handle. And when you’re short on scoring, those can’t creep into the game. So, we’ll clean it up a little bit and when we get our opportunities at the other end, make sure that we’re the ones putting it in the net.”

J.T. Compher was the lone Detroit skater to light the lamp on Thursday, a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena in which his ninth goal of the season cut Detroit’s deficit to 2-1 a little before the midway point of the third period before the hosts put things out of reach with three unanswered tallies.

Chiarot, like McLellan, was encouraged by the club’s effort for much of the night against the Lightning.

“Just a couple mistakes, obviously, cost us in the end,” Chiarot said. “Tampa’s a good, dangerous team. You give them a look, they’re going to capitalize. And then on the flip side, had our chances there too to put it in the net. Bear down a little bit, maybe we get out of there with a point, maybe two. But honestly, really liked the effort from the team defensively.”

To collect as many points as possible down this final stretch, maintaining that same level of effort — even with several key players currently sidelined — becomes essential for Detroit.

“We lost Ras for probably a week at least,” McLellan said. “Brandsegg-Nygard’s out day-to-day, so we continue to take it on the chin a little bit up front, but the recalls have actually provided us with some energy. They’re excited about being here. They’ve been able to give us a little bit of a spark. A lot of juggling going on, guys playing out of position, but that’s the deck we’re dealt with right now and what we have to deal with.”

Sitting in second place in the top-heavy Central Division and riding the second-longest point streak in team history at 14 straight games, Dallas is coming off a 7-2 victory over the two-time defending Western-Conference champion Edmonton Oilers at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

Jason Robertson, who had four points (two goals, two assists) against Edmonton, leads the Stars with 78 points (36 goals, 42 assists) and only Wyatt Johnston (35-36—71) has surpassed the 70-point threshold this season. Mikko Rantanen hasn’t played since Feb. 4 because of a lower-body injury he sustained with Team Finland at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 but has the third-most points (69) on the club.

This season, netminders Jake Oettinger and Casey DeSmith have combined to post a 2.46 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.

“Keep it tight to our system, strong in front of our net and in front of their net,” Chiarot said of slowing down the Stars. “On the offensive side, net play has been a big thing for us, something that we harp on a lot, so being strong in front of our net will be huge.”