PREVIEW: Red Wings visit Blue Jackets on Thursday for first stop of season-long six-game road trip

COLUMBUS -- The Detroit Red Wings will kick off their season-long six-game road trip with an Eastern Conference clash against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday night.

Puck drop between the Red Wings (14-11-2; 30 points) and Blue Jackets (12-9-5; 29 points) is set for 7:30 p.m., with streaming available exclusively on ESPN+ and HULU. Ken Kal and Paul Woods will have the call on the Red Wings Radio Network (WWJ Newsradio 950 in Detroit).

“It’s going to be a big challenge,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said about this extended stretch away from Little Caesars Arena. “The travel, the buildings that we go to and the teams that we’re going to play – everybody is a little bit different, so we got to prepare each and every night. I think the opportunity that lies in front of us is twofold. One, to have a successful trip and to build. Then two, to find our game and continue to build on it. I’m looking forward to it. It starts here tonight against a real good team.”

The Red Wings will try to build off their most recent outing, a 5-4 win over the Boston Bruins at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday, which snapped a four-game winless streak.

“We played more solid defensively,” Elmer Soderblom said about the club’s performance on Tuesday. “We just got to keep playing the same way by being tough and physical.”

Eight different Detroit skaters found the scoresheet against Boston, with Moritz Seider (one goal, two assists), Alex DeBrincat (one goal, one assist), Patrick Kane (two assists) and Lucas Raymond (one goal, one assist) all recording multi-point nights.

Through 27 games this season, Seider continues to lead all Red Wings blueliners in assists (15), points (19), plus-minus rating (+5), power-play goals (1), power-play points (9) and average time on ice (24:57).

“There’s an uptick in it lately,” McLellan said about Seider’s offensive production. “Especially power-play wise, he’s a lot more willing to feed shots through to the net with some traffic there where before it was more about playmaking and that type of stuff. So, as our power play got its act together, if you will, we have more of that and Mo’s a big part of it.”

Like the Red Wings, the Blue Jackets also ended a four-game winless skid on Monday as they defeated the New Jersey Devils, 5-3, at Prudential Center.

Zach Werenski (nine goals, 17 assists) and Kirill Marchenko (eight goals, 14 assists) have each crossed the 20-point threshold this season. Behind them, Dmitri Voronkov (nine goals, nine assists) and Charlie Coyle (four goals, 14 assists) are tied for third on Columbus’ scoring leaderboard with 18 goals apiece while Adam Fantilli (nine goals, eight assists) is fourth with 17 points.

Set to start for the Blue Jackets, goalie Elvis Merzlikins brings a 5-5-0 record with a 3.50 goals-against average and .895 save percentage into the second matchup between the two clubs this season. In their meeting on Nov. 22, Detroit rallied for a 4-3 overtime win against Columbus at Little Caesars Arena.

“They have some skilled players and some physicality,” Soderblom said about the Blue Jackets. “Always good battles against this team. I think we always have tight games, so it’s going to be fun.”