Preview: Red Wings begin Western Canada road trip at Calgary on Saturday

On the first game of their annual Western Canada road trip, the Detroit Red Wings will visit the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddledome. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network.

All three Western Canadian opponents currently boast winning records, and are jockeying for playoff positioning. From March 12-19, Detroit (24-27-7) will battle the Flames (35-15-7), Edmonton Oilers (31-23-4) and Vancouver Canucks (29-23-7). The Red Wings will wrap up the road trip by visiting the expansion Seattle Kraken, which is currently 17-37-6 on the season.

The Red Wings are looking to rebound from a 6-5 shootout loss Thursday to the visiting Minnesota Wild.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill announced on Friday that Robby Fabbri's season is over after he suffered a knee injury that is expected to be a torn ACL. It's an unfortunate blow to the Red Wings' offensive output and for Fabbri, who had scored a goal in three of his last four games.
"You need guys to step up and play great hockey," Blashill said. "I think (Filip) Zadina, Joe Veleno, Michael Rasmussen, all those guys need to continue to step their games up."
Jakub Vrana continues to have early success in a Red Wings sweater. He scored twice against the Wild for his first multi-goal game since April 22, 2021, and also found the back of the net in his season debut against Arizona. After being acquired at the trade deadline last season, Vrana scored eight goals and tallied 11 points in just 11 games with Detroit.

"Obviously it's not only about me," Vrana said. "We didn't really get the result we wanted the first game (Arizona). I'm really happy that we came back Thursday and battled way more than the first game."
Calgary is two days removed from a 4-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning and currently leads the Pacific Division with 77 team points.
Johnny Gaudreau is fourth in the NHL with 77 points and tied for second with 51 assists. Matthew Tkachuk has five points in his last four games. Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves against the Lightning to win his fourth start in the past five contests.
Calgary shut out the Red Wings, 3-0, at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 21. Detroit finished with a 33-28 advantage in shots, but couldn't get a look past Markstrom, who made 33 saves.

Marc Staal scheduled to play in 1,000th career game Saturday night

Marc Staal sits on the cusp of an historic milestone.
The 15-year NHL veteran is scheduled to play in his 1,000th career game on Saturday night.
The 1,000-game milestone hits home for Staal, who will join siblings Eric and Jordan and become the first trio of brothers in NHL history to each play 1,000 regular-season games.
"It's a cool milestone to get to, obviously," he said. "I've been fortunate and grateful to have played in this league for a long time and to be able to get there, to join my brothers in that category, is pretty cool as well. It should be a fun night."