PREVIEW: Red Wings face off against visiting Avalanche on Saturday

DETROIT -- Looking to put their recent frustrations behind them, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Colorado Avalanche at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

Broadcast coverage of Saturday’s 7 p.m. puck drop between Detroit (10-12-4; 24 points) and Colorado (14-13-0; 28 points) will be carried on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit Extra and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

“You have to look at the positives,” Jeff Petry said. “You also have to look at the things that we need to work on because I think that’s where frustration comes in, is when you’re making the same mistakes over and over. Making sure that we’re learning from those as well. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of responding, making sure we’re cleaning up the areas we need to and growing off the things we’re doing well.”

Back in front of Hockeytown faithful, the Red Wings concluded a two-game road trip with a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. Alex DeBrincat scored his 11th goal of the season for Detroit, which will try to build off a perfect 5-for-5 night on the penalty kill in Ottawa.

“We spent almost nine minutes on the penalty kill, and they only had three shots with one chance,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “I thought we were aggressive on it. I thought our details were way better, our rotations. That’s a top power play.”

Eight of Detroit’s last nine games have been determined by a single goal, and Lalonde wants his club to keep pushing through and learning from these close contests no matter the result.

“No doubt increases the frustration level, but the encouraging part is our process,” Lalonde said. “We could be sitting here talking about a three-game winning streak, and the underlying numbers are telling us we probably should have won all three games, but we didn’t. We got to find a way to create our own breaks.”

After making 30 saves against the Senators, goalie Ville Husso is set to start his third consecutive game on Saturday. Lalonde said he expects netminders Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon (lower-body injuries) will be unavailable for a little while longer.

“We’re hoping to see them hit the ice soon here,” Lalonde said. “I’d probably rule both of them out for at least the next two [games].”

Tied with the St. Louis Blues for fourth place in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, the Avalanche have lost three of their past four games and are coming off a 5-3 road loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday.

Nathan MacKinnon is one of the front-runners for the first Art Ross Trophy of his NHL career, as the 29-year-old center leads the league in assists (31) and is second in points (40). Not far behind MacKinnon is Mikko Rantanen with 35 points (15 goals, 20 assists), and Cale Makar with 34 points (eight goals, 26 assists).

One week ago, the Avalanche traded goalie Justus Annunen and a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft to the Nashville Predators in exchange for netminder Scott Wedgewood, who made 30 saves in his first start with Colorado on Thursday.

“You look at a couple guys they have up front, they’re able to make plays and make you pay,” Petry said. “For us, it’s cliché, but we need to make sure we’re in their face and taking away their time and space. Making sure we’re playing those guys hard. I think if we play a strong defensive game, we’ll be able to get our chances as well.”