PREVIEW: Red Wings want to start strong, limit rush opportunities against Blues on Saturday night

DETROIT – Aiming to extend their early-season home-ice winning streak to five consecutive contests, the Detroit Red Wings will square off against the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

“Getting off to a good start this season is important to us,” Jacob Bernard-Docker said. “Just trying to keep that rolling…There’s a lot of good teams in this League and there aren’t any gimmes. It’s about sticking to our process and when things go bad, just learn from it.”

Saturday’s 7 p.m. puck drop, which fans can watch on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit or listen in on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, also marks the front half of a home-and-home series between the Red Wings (5-3-0; 10 points) and Blues (3-3-1; 7 points). The old rivals will meet again in St. Louis next Tuesday, kicking off a five-game road trip out West for Detroit.

Hoping a quick return to home ice will help them recapture some momentum, the Red Wings most recently dropped both games of their midweek back-to-back road set – first a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday followed by a 7-2 setback against the New York Islanders on Thursday.

According to Alex DeBrincat, having a scheduled off-day on Friday was a good mental reset for the group.

“It’s nice to get away from the rink and put [Thursday’s game] in the rearview mirror, and show up today ready to go,” DeBrincat said. “We know we have better. We know we have to be better. I think today, we’ll come out strong.”

Bernard-Docker added that he hopes by learning and being reminded of some important lessons now, Detroit will be able to better tighten up its overall game as it continues to grow as a team.

“We just got to clean up some of our rush play,” Benard-Docker said. “Obviously, giving up a few too many chances on that type of stuff. Not our best games, but sometimes it’s good to learn like that early in the season then be able to correct it and move on. Hopefully, we can get back on track tonight.”

Absent from Saturday’s morning skate was Patrick Kane, who has missed the past three games because of an upper-body injury. That said, McLellan didn’t have an updated timetable for the veteran forward’s return.

Meanwhile, the Blues are coming off a 7-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Thursday. On offense, currently leading the way for St. Louis are Jake Neighbors (four goals, one assist), Pavel Buchnevich (one goal, four assists) and Jordan Kyrou (one goal, four assists). Between the pipes, the club’s goalie tandem of Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer have combined for a 4.45 goals-against average and .837 save percentage this season.

“I think they’re going through what we are a little bit, where it’s one real good night then kind of an average night,” McLellan said about the Blues. “Kind of trying to find their footing consistently, but they can make you pay. Their top two lines have a lot of potential scoring on it. Their D can skate and get up in the rush. I’ve known Monty for a long time, so he’s going to have them organized. They’re not going to beat themselves. You’re going to have to play a pretty good, calculated game and take advantage of the mistakes they do make because they’re not just going to give it to you.”