Predators at Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are headed on the upswing, but hidden beneath their modest two-game winning streak is a number of defensive breakdowns and a failure to clog the neutral zone. Detroit looks to tighten its play on Friday as it opens the first set of back-to-back home games with a date versus the Nashville Predators.
"You can't have long-term success giving up the number of chances we've given up in three of the four games, no chance," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill told the Detroit Free Press on the heels of Wednesday's 2-1 victory over the New York Rangers. Although veteran Jimmy Howard (32 saves) stole the show on Broadway, Petr Mrazek will look to build off his 31-save performance versus Ottawa on Monday when he faces Nashville, against which he is 3-0-0 in his career. Predators captain Mike Fisher scored his second power-play goal of the season in a 2-1 setback to Dallas on Tuesday. "We have to be better 5-on-5 and we have to find ways to score," Fisher said of Nashville, which has scored five of its seven goals with the man advantage and leads the league with a 45.5 percentage on the power play.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, SN360, TVAS, FSN Detroit, FSN Tennessee (Nashville)
ABOUT THE PREDATORS (1-2-0): Coach Peter Laviolette tinkered with his lines on Thursday, joining veteran Mike Ribeiro with Filip Forsberg and Craig Smith in a bid to generate offense. The trio worked wonders last season during Nashville's franchise-record 14-game point streak, and Laviolette is looking for any spark to give veteran goaltender Pekka Rinne some breathing room. The 33-year-old Finn has yielded two goals in each contest this season and owns a 12-9-4 career mark with three shutouts versus Detroit.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (2-2-0): Thomas Vanek has motored out of the blocks after signing a one-year, $2.6 million contract in the offseason, collecting three goals and an as many assists while his four power-play points were tied for the league lead entering play on Thursday. The 32-year-old Austrian scored versus the Rangers, but has just two goals in 14 career encounters with the Predators. Fellow forward Drew Miller found the net for the first time on Wednesday and recorded a goal and an assist in his last meeting with Nashville.
OVERTIME
1. Nashville C Ryan Johansen's four assists have all come on the power play.
2. The Red Wings have thwarted all nine short-handed opportunities over the last three games after yielding three power-play goals to Tampa Bay in the season opener.
3. Forsberg has two goals and as many assists in five meetings with Detroit.