PREVIEW: Red Wings, Blue Jackets take the ice for Saturday matinee

DETROIT -- Aiming to rebound from their second shutout loss of the season and get back to playing their brand of hockey, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Columbus Blue Jackets at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday afternoon.

“I think we skate very well as a team,” Andrew Copp said. “You can see us hunting the puck and their D on the forecheck. That’s probably the calling card… We need to be relentless on the forecheck, play on our toes and be responsible. We can’t be careless.”

Saturday’s 1 p.m. puck drop, which will be broadcasted on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network, against Columbus (11-8-2; 24 points) also marks the finale of a three-game homestand for Detroit (12-8-1; 25 points).

The Red Wings are coming off a 5-0 defeat to the New York Islanders on Thursday, which snapped their four-game point streak. By the end of the first period, Detroit found itself in a 2-0 hole against New York, and never quite recovered.

“I would say, three of the first four goals were basic face-off or change-type goals,” Copp said. “That shouldn’t happen. I think those were the most frustrating ones… And overall, we weren’t great, but we didn’t give ourselves a chance.”

Following Friday afternoon’s practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center, Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan hadn’t finalized his lineup for Saturday’s Eastern Conference clash. But no matter who suits up against Columbus, McLellan said he’s looking for a little more offensive production from Detroit’s bottom six.

“Other teams are scoring against us,” McLellan said. “We’re losing that tradeoff, so we need more from there. We spent a lot of time, maybe 7-10 days ago, working around the net with deflections, screens, feeder shots and rebounds. That’s where those goals tend to come from. We have to spend a little more time, forecheck can get a little bit better, in the offensive zone so those things can evolve.”

McLellan’s view was echoed by Copp, who discussed several key components that can create secondary scoring.

“It all goes together,” Copp explained. “How well we break the puck out dictates how much time we play in the offensive zone. If we’re not breaking the puck out, then we’re not going to be in the offensive zone. We’re going to be in the D-zone for the first 30 seconds of your shift, then you’re going to be changing. That’s a good starting point – to get more on the inside.”

The Blue Jackets, who are sixth in the Metropolitan Division and have won two of their last three outings, most recently outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime, 3-2, at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night.

Averaging over a point-per-game, Kirill Marchenko leads Columbus in both assists (14) and points (22). Zach Werenski and Dmitri Voronkov are ranked second and third on the club’s scoring leaderboard, with 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) and 18 points (nine goals, nine assists), respectively. Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins have split time between the pipes this season, combining for a 3.05 goals-against average and .903 save percentage.

“We had a good video session [on Friday],” Marco Kasper said. “Cleaned some things up…It was good. Just trying to bounce back [on Saturday].”