PREVIEW: Red Wings out to halt two-game skid, set for first game in Utah on Monday  

SALT LAKE CITY -- Making their first-ever visit to Salt Lake City, the Detroit Red Wings will face the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center on Monday night in what also kicks off a back-to-back road set.

Following Monday’s 9 p.m. ET/7 p.m. MT puck drop (broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and 97.1 The Ticket) against Utah (32-27-11; 75 points), Detroit (32-31-6; 70 points) will visit the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Tuesday night.

“Every game is big,” Lucas Raymond said. “Every point you can get is big. You try to do whatever you can to contribute to that. I think these games are fun. These are the games everyone wants to play in.”

Detroit needs to beat both Utah and Colorado to split this two-part road trek after falling to the Vegas Golden Knights, 6-3, on Saturday. Despite taking an early 1-0 lead on a first-period power-play goal by Raymond, the Red Wings couldn’t build on that as the Pacific Division leaders took control later in the frame and stayed in front the rest of the night.

“I thought our offensive game throughout the entire game was good,” Raymond said. “We got a ton of looks. I feel like that’s maybe been the theme for us lately. We’ve had a lot of chances. It’s about bearing down on those. Sometimes you maybe don’t have as many chances, but you put the puck in the net. Defensively, obviously we want to improve and be tighter there.”

The Red Wings are set to get a defensive boost on Monday, as head coach Todd McLellan said he expects Jeff Petry to rejoin the lineup after being sidelined for two-plus months because of an undisclosed injury.

Petry, who last played against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 2, has been ramping up his skating over the last few weeks, including recently going through full practices and morning skates with Detroit.

“When [Petry] is playing really well, we have a pretty good idea of what we have there,” McLellan said. "Veteran size, puck-moving and that type of stuff. It’s not easy to be out as long as he has been. But in any case, he’s coming back. It’s not easy to come into these games, but we expect a lot from him. We think that he can liven up the locker room a little bit, create a lot of life and energy for the group and perhaps improve the penalty kill. He hasn’t been involved for a while but could certainly help in those areas. We’re anxious to get him back.”

Entering Monday, the Red Wings were five points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot with 13 games remaining, while Utah trailed the St. Louis Blues by four points for the Western Conference’s final Wild-Card spot with 12 contests to go.

Utah has won three of its last four games following a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. This season, captain Clayton Keller leads the NHL’s newest franchise in points (77) and assists (53), while Dylan Guenther has netted a team-high 25 goals.

Goaltender Karel Vejmelka has won his last two starts, improving to 21-18-6 with a 2.53 goals-against average and .907 save percentage on the campaign. Earlier this month, he made 38 saves to help Utah take a 4-2 decision at Little Caesars Arena on March 6.

“We want to play a good, solid game,” Ben Chiarot said. “Get our game going in the right direction. We have six periods of hockey coming up here in short order, so want to make sure our game is ready to go.”