Blackhawks seek 5th straight win as they visit last-place Red Wings

The Blackhawks will try to win their fifth straight when they visit the Red Wings on Friday at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

Alex DeBrincat scored two goals, and the Blackhawks (31-28-8) held off the Oilers for a 4-3 win Thursday in the first half of back to back games. Patrick Kane scored the first goal of the game to reach the 30-goal mark for the fifth time in his career.

Rookie defenseman Adam Boqvist had two assists for his second straight game to extend his assist streak to three games (five assists). The Blackhawks did not allow a shot on goal against the Oilers’ top-ranked power play on Edmonton’s lone opportunity, and Chicago improved to 13-for-13 on the penalty kill in their past four games.

Chicago trails the Canucks, Predators, Jets and Coyotes by four points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. Nashville is the lone team among the group that is idle Friday night.

Defenseman Nick Seeler will draw into the lineup for Lucas Carlsson, who has been placed in concussion protocol after taking a shot to the head Thursday against the Oilers. It will be Seeler’s first game action since Feb. 25 in St. Louis.

Corey Crawford will make his eighth consecutive start. It’s the first time this season Chicago will use the same goaltender in both games of a back-to-back.

The Red Wings, who have a minus-121 goal differential and are already been eliminated from playoff contention, have lost their past six games (0-5-1) and 20 of 23 (3-18-2) after a 2-1 home loss to the Avalanche on Monday.

Jonathan Bernier made 25 saves, but Detroit’s anemic offense failed to score again. The Red Wings (15-48-5) have scored one goal or fewer in 10 of their past 16. Bernier has emerged as the Detroit’s No. 1 goaltender and has recorded all but two of the team’s wins.

Sam Gagner has one goal in three games with the Red Wings since he acquired from Edmonton on Feb. 24 for Andreas Athanasiou, Ryan Kuffner and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 NHL drafts. Gagner’s first goal for Detroit came on the power play in the Red Wings’ 4-3 shootout loss to Ottawa on Feb. 29.

Dylan Larkin paces the Red Wings in scoring with 49 points (18 goals, 31 assists). He has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past seven games. Tyler Bertuzzi also has 18 goals and 42 points, while Anthony Mantha (15) and Robby Fabbri (12) have both reached double digits in goals.

Season series

The Blackhawks have won four straight against Detroit and are 7-2-0 in their past nine games in the season series. The Red Wings won two straight prior to Chicago’s four-game win streak in the series — 4-0 on Jan. 14, 2018, in Chicago and 4-2 on March 10, 2018, in Detroit.

Blackhawks — Statistic — Red Wings

48.3% (24th) — Corsi For — 46.07% (31st)

46.6% (28th) — Expected goals for — 34.54% (31st)

50% (17th) — Faceoffs — 49.5% (20th)

3.00 (17th) — Goals per game — 1.97 (31st)

3.10 (13th) — Goals against per game — 3.75 (1st)

15% (28th) — Power play — 14.6% (30th)

82.5% (7th) — Penalty kill — 75% (30th)

Projected lineups

Blackhawks

Kubalik — Toews — Saad

Nylander — Strome — Kane

DeBrincat — Dach — Caggiula

Highmore — Kampf — Carpenter

Keith — Boqvist

Maatta — Koekkoek

Seeler — Murphy

Crawford

Subban

Red Wings

Bertuzzi — Larkin — Fabbri

Gagner — Filppula — Mantha

Helm — Glendening — Nielsen

Perlini — Ehn — Timashov

Nemeth — Hronek

Daley — Biega

Bowey — Lindstrom

Bernier

Howard

How to watch

When: 6:30 p.m.

Where: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

TV: NBC Sports Chicago, NHL Network

Live stream: NBC Sports app, NHL.TV