GAME DAY: Red Wings finish quick road trip in Colorado (9:00 p.m. ET, BSDET+)

Fresh off a 6–2 beatdown at the hands of the St. Louis Blues on Friday, the Detroit Red Wings will look to avoid returning home empty-handed when they finish off their two-game road swing on Friday with a game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Detroit, losers of back-to-back games, will face a Colorado team without its leading scorer (@Nazem Kadri) and a top-four defenceman (@Bowen Byram). To even things out on that front: @Tyler Bertuzzi remains in COVID-19 protocol for the Red Wings.

Friday’s goaltending battle will be fascinating. @Darcy Kuemper has struggled since joining the Avalanche from Arizona in the offseason, posting an underwhelming .902 save percentage to go along with a 10–5–0 record.

@Alex Nedeljkovic has been as advertised for the Red Wings but stumbled a little on Thursday, allowing three goals on 18 shots in St. Louis before being relieved by @Thomas Greiss for the third period.

You’ll be able to catch this game on Bally Sports Detroit Plus at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Detroit went with these units yesterday in St. Louis:

@Robby Fabbri – @Dylan Larkin – @Lucas Raymond
@Joe Veleno – @Pius Suter – @Vladislav Namestnikov
@Filip Zadina – @Michael Rasmussen – @Adam Erne
@Givani Smith – @Carter Rowney – @Sam Gagner

@Jordan Oesterle – @Moritz Seider
@Nick Leddy – @Filip Hronek
Danny DeKeyser – @Daniel Renouf

Both @Alex Nedeljkovic and @Thomas Greiss made appearances in Thursday’s game, with Greiss taking over from Nedeljkovic after the first 40 minutes. Assuming Nedeljkovic (8–5–3, .915 SV%) remains healthy, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him between the pipes in Colorado.

Colorado will be without @Nazem Kadri and @Bowen Byram for Friday’s game, making their lines difficult to predict. It’s possible the Avalanche recall a forward from AHL Colorado before puck drop.

In the meantime, here’s our best guess at what their lines will look like:

@Gabriel Landeskog – @Nathan MacKinnon – Logan O’Connor
@Valeri Nichushkin – @Alex Newhook – @Mikko Rantanen
@Darren Helm – @Tyson Jost – @Andre Burakovsky
@Kurtis MacDermid – Nic Aube-Kubel

@Devon Toews – @Cale Makar
@Erik Johnson – @Samuel Girard
@Jack Johnson – @Jacob MacDonald

@Darcy Kuemper (10–5–0, .902 SV%) will start for Colorado.

Detroit: @Lucas Raymond (10 goals, 24 points); @Dylan Larkin (10 goals, 22 points); @Tyler Bertuzzi (nine goals, 18 points); @Moritz Seider (three goals, 18 points); @Vladislav Namestnikov (eight goals, 14 points).

Colorado: @Nazem Kadri (11 goals, 34 points); @Gabriel Landeskog (nine goals, 26 points); @Mikko Rantanen (12 goals, 23 points); @Cale Makar (11 goals, 23 points); @Nathan MacKinnon (two goals, 18 points).

Detroit: Pending unrestricted free agent @Robby Fabbri has been on a nice little hot streak as of late, with four goals in his last four games. The 25-year-old winger contributed all of the Red Wings’ offense in their 6–2 loss to the St. Louis Blues, his former team, on Thursday. Fabbri is in the final year of a contract that pays him $2.95 million per season.

Colorado: It’s been a bit of a rough go for @Nathan MacKinnon this season. He’s missed 10 of Colorado’s 23 games due to injury and only has two goals on 47 shots. MacKinnon is bound to start finding the back of the net more often — he broke a nine-game goalless drought on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden — and he’s still piling up the assists, with 16 in 13 games.

Friday’s Red Wings game will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit Plus starting at 9:00 p.m. ET. It’ll be sent over the airwaves on WXVT-FM 97.1 “The Ticket” in the Detroit area, as well as on the Red Wings’ official website.

Looking to up your fantasy hockey game? DailyFaceoff has the tools you need for both daily and season-long fantasy leagues, including a lineup optimizer, daily projections, and a whole lot more. Sign up for the DailyFaceoff tools here.