Preview: Red Wings look to get back on track in Chicago

DETROIT -- There was a decent chance the Detroit Red Wings could run into a buzzsaw on Saturday night. The game played out that way in a convincing road loss in Montreal. With a quick turnaround, Detroit will look to prevent the same result from happening in a uniquely similar set of circumstances.
For the second consecutive night, the Red Wings will face an Original Six team looking to record its first win of the season on home ice. Detroit will face the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Sunday in the second game of its three-game road swing. The puck will drop at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network.

The Blackhawks are 0-4-1 on the season, and have been outscored 13-4 in the past three games. The Red Wings are 2-2-1, but have dropped two straight in regulation following Saturday's 6-1 loss to the Canadiens.
The environment at the Bell Centre on Saturday night was a reminder of how a raucous home crowd can affect a game, especially when that team is playing with an elevated sense of urgency. It's something a young team has to learn to navigate.
Part of that is not beating yourself, and Detroit admittedly fell short in that regard, committing three penalties in the first period, including giving up a power-play goal that proved to be the game-winner.
"That was a turning point. I thought we started good, I thought we had good energy, I thought we were on top of them, I thought we were playing good hockey," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said.
"We score on the power play. We took three offensive zone penalties, so that's something that's plagued us here throughout the early part of the season. We've taken too many penalties. We've talked about it; we've got to stay out of the box and be more disciplined in those areas. We certainly can't take offensive zone penalties, that's a number of them now."

According to Stat Muse, Detroit has been whistled for 5.80 penalties per game through five contests, which is currently tied with Winnipeg for second-most in the NHL.
"It's the type of penalties, I think," alternate captain Marc Staal said. "Sometimes there are good penalties, and you need to make them out of desperation, maybe stop a scoring chance or something. But we're not taking those type of penalties. We're taking stick penalties, tripping, and kind of just needless penalties that are away from the play, and those will hurt you. Definitely something we need to clean up."
Chicago has gotten off to a slow start offensively, scoring just 1.8 goals per game. But it has scored five goals on the power play, which is tied for fifth-most among NHL teams.
Seth Jones, Kirby Dach and Farmington Hills, Mich., native Alex DeBrincat have each chipped in with three points. Kevin Lankinen and Marc-Andre Fleury have split time in goal, with each earning three starts. Ryan Carpenter, Patrick Kane and Erik Gustafsson did not practice on Saturday as part of Covid-19 protocol.
Both teams have undergone significant roster changes, but the rivalry was renewed in a unique way last season, when the Red Wings and Blackhawks squared off eight times under the League's 56-game scheduling format. Chicago won six of those contests, with very few fans in attendance. Sunday night will feel like a more traditional Red Wings vs. Blackhawks showdown, in one of the better home-ice advantages in the NHL.
"We get to fly out to Chicago, and go in there and try to learn from our mistakes and get out there and compete again," Staal said. "I think we need to have a short memory here as a young team, and just go into Chicago and compete, and play the way we know how."

Extended time for Nedeljkovic

Alex Nedeljkovic is expected to earn the start in goal for Sunday's game, and got some extra repetitions on Saturday night. Blashill made a goalie change mid-way through the second period against Montreal, inserting Nedeljkovic into the lineup in relief of Thomas Greiss. He logged 29:35 of ice time, stopping all six shots he faced.
"The good thing, it was a half a game, it wasn't more than that," Blashill said on Saturday night. "Obviously we're on a back to back regardless of that. I thought he came in and played well, so hopefully he feels good about himself and he can go in [tomorrow] and give us a good one."
Nedeljkovic has appeared in three games this season, and heads into Sunday's contest with a 3.55 goals against average and a save percentage of .890.