Preview: Blues at Red Wings

[January 20, 2016]  The Detroit Red Wings answered a wildly successful six-game road trip by once again coming up short at Joe Louis Arena. After dropping five of their last six contests at home (1-3-2), the Red Wings look to get back on track when they host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.

A lack of offense and inability to convert on the power play is plaguing Detroit, which has mustered just 19 goals in its last 10 games (5-4-1) while going 4-for-28 with the man advantage. "You're not always going to score four to five goals, and the league is so good - and everyone plays defense and it's not easy to score goals in this league," Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader said. Vladimir Tarasenko scored his team-leading 25th goal on Monday as St. Louis posted its fourth win in five outings with a 5-2 triumph over Pittsburgh. The 24-year-old Russian has seven points in his last nine contests and collected a goal and an assist in the Blues' 4-3 overtime loss to the Red Wings on Nov. 21.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, RSN, TVA

ABOUT THE BLUES (27-15-7): Paul Stastny scored a goal for the second straight contest on Monday and added three assists to increase his total to 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in the last nine games. Brian Elliott is also having a strong stretch of late as the 30-year-old goaltender has stopped 82-of-87 shots over the last two contests and is 4-1-0 in his last five. Elliott could use a bit of good fortune as he has dropped eight of 11 (3-6-2) career encounters with Detroit.

ABOUT THE RED WINGS (23-14-8): After scoring his team's lone goal in a 2-1 shootout loss to Philadelphia on Sunday, defenseman Niklas Kronwall underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee two days later and is sidelined two-to-four weeks. "It's something that's been planned for a little bit here," coach Jeff Blashill told the team's website. "... We utilized the All-Star break in that time period to try to minimize the games that he misses." Blue-liner Alexey Marchenko will draw back into the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch the last two contests.

OVERTIME

1. Detroit G Petr Mrazek has stopped 87-of-91 shots to win all three career decisions versus St. Louis.

2. The Blues sent D Chris Butler to Chicago of the American Hockey League on Tuesday.

3. Red Wings LW Teemu Pulkkinen, who returned from a shoulder injury on Sunday, had an assist before scoring in overtime of the team's initial meeting with the Blues.

PREDICTION: Blues 3, Red Wings 2

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