PREVIEW: Tuesday’s Eastern Conference clash at Little Caesars Arena pits Red Wings against Devils

DETROIT -- Settling in for another multi-day stretch at Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Red Wings will begin a three-game homestand with an Eastern Conference clash against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night.

“It’s just going to be one game at a time,” Sheldon Dries said. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s about keeping it simple, sticking to our game plan and our systems, and working together.”

Detroit (1-3-1; 3 points) and New Jersey (2-3-0; 4 points) will kick off the action of the “Frozen Frenzy”, when all 32 NHL teams play, with a 6 p.m. puck drop on ESPN and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). After another showdown on Dec. 9 at Prudential Center, these two squads will battle for a third and final time this season on March 4 at Little Caesars Arena.  

In their most recent game on Saturday night, the second half of their first back-to-back set of the campaign, the Red Wings dropped a 1-0 shootout decision to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre.

“Our systems were good,” Dries said. “We just have to bear down and bury some of our chances, but a lot of good things. I know it’s not the result we wanted, but coming away with a point is a good step in the right direction.”

Two positives of Detroit's play on Saturday were the performance of goaltender Daniil Tarasov – he stopped all 30 shots he faced in regulation and overtime before making five straight saves in the skills session – and a perfect 4-for-4 night on the penalty kill.

“We needed it the other night,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said of the penalty kill. “We didn’t get off to the greatest start when it comes to the penalty kill. We got dinged in that Winnipeg game. That hurts your number real early in the year and now it’s a long climb to get it back to what we’d like it to be. But the other night, we needed the penalty kill and it came up big. We had to kill, in my opinion, almost 5-on-3 for a minute and a half when we didn’t have a stick. We needed a big kill when the game was on the line at the end of the night, so that was real important. I still believe the best penalty killer on the ice is usually your goaltender. (Tarasov) did an outstanding job in Montreal the other night."

The Red Wings needed a shootout to settle six games last season, and McLellan said preparing for one doesn’t come easily.

“It’s tricky,” McLellan said. “It’s a hard thing to replicate. Yeah, we could line everybody up and let them take shots one after another… Maybe it’s a lot easier because you don’t have the pressure of the building, TV or refs. Usually in practice, you’re practicing on crappy ice, if you will. Near the end, you never start practice with a shootout right off the bat.”

Less than 24 hours ago, the Devils fell to the Ottawa Senators by a 4-1 score at Prudential Center in the first half of their back-to-back set. Jack Hughes enters Tuesday on a three-game point streak and leads New Jersey with five points (one goal, four assists), while three skaters — Nico Hischier, Jesper Boqvist and Luke Evangelista — have each scored a team-high two goals.

“It’s one game at a time,” Dries said. “Whoever that opponent is on any given night, we have to be ready for whatever they might throw at us, and I think we are.”