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Thrashers-Red Wings Preview

Nov 24, 2009 - 7:02 PM By PAUL DIGIACOMO STATS Senior Editor

Atlanta (10-7-3) at Detroit (11-7-4), 7:30 p.m. EDT

The Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings have been struggling over the past week. A meeting at Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night will likely only benefit the defending Western Conference champions.

Detroit looks for its sixth win in seven home games against Atlanta when the teams face off for the only time this season.

The Red Wings (11-7-4) have dropped three of four following a stretch of six victories in seven games, while the Thrashers (10-7-3) have lost three in a row after a season-high four-game winning streak.

Detroit will now look to get back on track at home, where it is 5-1-0 against the Thrashers since they joined the NHL for the 1999-00 season. The Red Wings, 7-2-2 at Joe Louis Arena this season, lead the all-time series 9-2-0.

On Monday night, Detroit lost 3-1 at Nashville to fall to 1-2-1 in its last four. It was the Red Wings' first game since losing defenseman Niklas Kronwall for at least a month with a left knee injury, and they allowed two power-play goals for the third time in five games.

"They scored on their power play, and we didn't," forward Henrik Zetterberg said. "I think that was the big difference today."

Detroit, which also has been without forwards Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Jason Williams because of injuries, is tied for 27th in the NHL in penalty killing at 74.4 percent.

Atlanta is fifth in the league on the power play, converting 23.5 percent of its opportunities. The Thrashers, though, are 1 for 13 with the man advantage during their 0-1-2 skid - 0 for 6 over the last two games.

They came back from a 3-1 deficit Sunday with two goals during a 1:52 span late in the third period, but Tampa Bay won 4-3 in overtime.

"They should be embarrassed after the first two periods," coach John Anderson said. "That's the term that comes to mind. You get dejected because you feel you wasted the first two periods."

Atlanta fell to 1-8-2 when trailing after two.

"It's a game we had to have. We talked about that," Anderson said. "It didn't look like a must-win. It looked like, 'Oh, let's see what we can do and then come back in the third period.'"

Detroit has done a nice job containing Atlanta star Ilya Kovalchuk over the years. The Russian left wing has one goal and five assists in six games against the Red Wings.

Kovalchuk, tops on Atlanta with 13 goals, has no points in his last two games overall - the first time that's happened this season.

His compatriot, center Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit, has four goals and two assists over his last seven games. Datsyuk, second on the Red Wings with 18 points, has four goals and six assists in seven contests against Atlanta.