PREVIEW: Red Wings open weekend back-to-back set, starting with St. Louis on Saturday afternoon

DETROIT – Seeking their fourth straight win, the Detroit Red Wings will face the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday afternoon to open a weekend back-to-back set.

Saturday’s 12 p.m. puck drop (broadcast coverage on ABC/ESPN+ and 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit) concludes the season series between the Red Wings (30-20-6; 66 points) and Blues (30-24-2; 62 points).

In honor of Black History Night at Little Caesars Arena, Learn, Play, Score program ambassador and 2023 Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award winner Jason McCrimmon will read the Red Wings’ starting lineup in their dressing room prior to puck drop.

Detroit won its second straight game in overtime on Thursday, 2-1, against the Colorado Avalanche. Captain Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane both scored while goalie Alex Lyon made 30 saves for the Red Wings, who enter Saturday with a one-point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Eastern Conference’s first wild card spot.

“I thought we played pretty well,” said Kane, who is on a six-game point streak. “We played good defensively. Obviously some of their top players had some looks, which you kind of expect playing against those guys.”

Ben Chiarot, who had the secondary assist on Kane’s overtime game-winner against Colorado, said Detroit must continue to raise its intensity level as this season progresses.

“It’s not quite playoff-intensity, but it’s getting more intense,” Chiarot said. “The speed of the game picks up. The free-wheeling plays that you wouldn’t see in the playoffs don’t necessarily happen as much down the stretch here. Teams play a little more direct.”

Chiarot said the blueprint is there on how the Red Wings must play to earn a playoff berth this season.

“We have to be a tight defensive team if we’re going to be successful,” Chiarot said. “I think we’re getting there. We’re pretty decent most nights, so that’s something that’s going to be huge for us to have success.”

On Thursday, the Blues scored three second-period goals in a franchise-record 32-second span and blanked the New York Islanders, 4-0. Currently fourth in the Western Conference’s Central Division, St. Louis is tied with the Nashville Predators for the conference’s second wild card spot with one game in hand.

Robert Thomas leads the Blues in assists (46) and points (65) this season, while Pavel Buchnevich (22-24—46) earned his first career NHL hat trick on Thursday. Goalie Jordan Binnington stopped all 38 shots he faced against the Islanders, improving to 20-15-2 with a 2.85 goals-against average and .911 save percentage this season.

“St. Louis (is) playing the game correctly,” Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Depth, they look like us. They’re getting scoring throughout their lineup. That first line is playing at a high, high level. Binnington is unbelievable.”

During their last meeting in St. Louis on Dec. 12, six different goal scorers powered the Red Wings to a 6-4 victory.

“It doesn’t get any easier,” Lalonde said about facing the Blues. “We know it’s going to be hard. This will present yet another extremely difficult challenge (Saturday).”