[7:00 PM] Red Wings @ Penguins

Who will WIN this matchup?

Detroit Red Wings (11-10-3)

@ Pittsburgh Penguins (14-7-3)

 

Starting Goalies:

Petr Mrazek (DET): Unconfirmed

Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT): Likely

 

• Crosby deftly batted the puck into the net from behind the goal to highlight his second three-point performance in five outings in Thursday’s 6-2 rout of Dallas. The 29-year-old has six goals in his last eight games and a league-best 16 in 18 contests after missing the first six tilts because of a concussion.

• Injuries are an obvious sore point for the Red Wings, who are expected to be without forward Justin Abdelkader for two-to-four weeks with a sprained MCL in his right knee, according to the Detroit Free Press. The 29-year-old Michigan native sustained the injury during the first period of a 2-1 overtime loss to Florida on Thursday and joins fellow forwards Andreas Athanasiou (knee), Darren Helm (shoulder) and Tyler Bertuzzi (ankle), goalie Jimmy Howard (groin) and defensemen Brendan Smith (knee) and Alexey Marchenko (shoulder) on the sideline.

• Howard’s absence has once again opened the door for goaltender Petr Mrazek, who is 2-0-2 with a .924 save percentage in his last four games. The 24-year-old Mrazek has yielded just five goals in his last three contests but owns a less-than-desirable 1-4-0 career mark with a gaudy 4.52 goals-against average in five encounters versus Pittsburgh.

• Patric Hornqvist scored his team high-tying fifth power-play goal and added an assist on Thursday to increase his point total to 14 (five goals, nine assists) in his last 14 games. Fellow forward Evgeni Malkin has scored a goal and set up five others during his four-game point streak and recorded 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 10 career meetings with the Red Wings. The defensemen are also chipping in on the offensive end, with veteran Ian Cole and Justin Schultz each recording four points (one goal, three assists) in their last five contests.

• Pittsburgh G Matt Murray has stopped 87 of 94 shots to post a 3-0-0 mark at home this season.

 

StreakSmarts Pick: Pittsburgh Penguins

Confidence: 7/10

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