Preview: Red Wings back home to host Winnipeg Thursday

After an extended west coast trip, the Detroit Red Wings return home on Thursday to host the Winnipeg Jets, kicking off a sprint of nine games in just 19 days.
Detroit extended the final two games of the road trip to overtime, but was unable to grab two points in either contest.

"In the end, the trip is certainly not what we wanted," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "We wanted to come out here and get more. We're going to have to learn from it. We got to go right back at it on Thursday. We have a relentless schedule coming up, and we have to make sure we are playing as good as we can on a nightly basis."
Thursday's puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m., with broadcast coverage on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network.
Detroit is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, a game in which the Wings "sat back a little bit too much," according to defenseman Nick Leddy, who scored his first goal with Detroit. It was the Red Wings' second straight overtime game.

"I think those are all growing moments, and moments where we need to get back to what makes us successful," Leddy said. "I think we saw that for sure at the beginning of the year."
Blashill has seen recent progress in his team's offensive approach, something he hopes to continue for the upcoming stretch, which includes four games in six days.
"I think we're gaining a little bit of our shooting mentality," Blashill said. "But there's still areas to improve in that. We just got to continue to make sure we understand the chaos that the shot creates, and whether it goes in directly or indirectly, it leads to chaos in O-zone time. I think we just got to continue to build on that."

Detroit is 16-16-5 this season with 37 points, and Winnipeg is 16-12-5 with 37 points under interim head coach Dave Lowry. Thursday's game will be Winnipeg's first since Jan. 6 due to COVID-related postponements.
Kyle Connor leads the Jets with 19 goals and 35 points, while Pierre-Luc Dubois has scored 15 goals. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck has started 27 games with a 13-10-4 record and a .913 save percentage, and has won three of his last four starts.

Larkin a game-time decision versus Winnipeg

After missing the team's last game, Dylan Larkin was back on the ice Thursday morning.

Blashill said Larkin will be a game-time decision. The Red Wings captain has not played since leaving the Anaheim game on Jan. 9 with an upper-body injury.

Red Wings announce theme nights and giveaways for second half of season

On Wednesday, the Red Wings announced theme nights, promotions and giveaways for the second half of the 2021-22 season.
Seven theme nights will take place during a busy second half of the 2021-22 campaign, featuring full Little Caesars Arena takeovers for each festive occasion, and 13 of the final 22 Red Wings home games include an exciting giveaway or theme night.
On Thursday, the first 7,500 fans to enter Little Caesars Arena will receive a Kris Draper bobblehead, presented by Coca-Cola.