Red Wings at Oilers
The Detroit Red Wings are stuck in neutral during their brief two-game skid, but Wednesday's road date with the Edmonton Oilers could be just what they need to get back on track. The Red Wings have won eight in a row against the Oilers and are 15-0-2 in the last 17 meetings.
Promising rookie Dylan Larkin extended his point streak to five games after scoring his team's lone goal in a 4-1 setback to Montreal on Saturday. Captain Henrik Zetterberg set up Larkin's second tally of the season to increase his point streak to five contests and has collected a goal and 14 assists in his 10-game point streak in the series. While Detroit looks to avoid a three-game losing streak, Edmonton has seen top overall pick Connor McDavid score two goals and set up a pair to lead the team to two straight victories. "I'm getting more and more comfortable as the games go," McDavid told the team's website. "I think that's pretty common with any rookie, so I'm feeling more comfortable."
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, RSN (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (3-2-0): While the top line of Zetterberg, Larkin and Justin Abdelkader is paying dividends with eight of the team's 15 goals, Detroit is going bankrupt with its other three. "We need more out of more lines," said coach Jeff Blashill, who promptly paired struggling veteran Brad Richards with Teemu Pulkkinen and Darren Helm and shuffled Tomas Tatar to a new line with Gustav Nyquist and Riley Sheahan. Tatar and Nyquist played on the same line during their days with Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League.
ABOUT THE OILERS (2-4-0): Lauri Korpikoski scored his second goal in three games after converting on a breakaway to give Edmonton a 2-1 victory versus Vancouver on Sunday. Nail Yakupov netted a power-play goal as Edmonton improved to 2-for-6 with the man advantage in the last two contests after going 1-for-14 during the team's four-game winless skid to open the season. Cam Talbot has dropped three of four decisions despite yielding just two goals in three of four outings.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit C Pavel Datsyuk scored a goal and set up another in both meetings with Edmonton last season.
2. The Oilers recalled F Andrew Miller from Bakersfield of the AHL on Tuesday.
3. Red Wings G Petr Mrazek has been confirmed to start on Wednesday versus Edmonton, against which he stopped all 14 shots he faced in his lone other meeting.