PREVIEW: Red Wings look to bring momentum, strong team game into Pittsburgh on Sunday

PITTSBURGH -- Coming off a much-needed 4-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings will look to sweep a weekend back-to-back set when they battle the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday evening.

Puck drop between the Red Wings (34-27-6; 74 points) and Penguins (29-28-9; 67 points) is set for 6 p.m., with broadcast coverage on Bally Sports Detroit/NHL Network and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). Detroit opened the season series against Pittsburgh with a 6-3 win at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 18.

Speaking to the media after Saturday’s game, Christian Fischer said a strong team effort helped the Red Wings snap a season-long seven-game losing streak.

“I think we played a really complete game,” said Fischer, who scored his third goal of the season on Saturday. “Start to finish, not too many lapses in the D-zone. They didn’t have too many extended shifts in a row in our zone. In between periods, we talked about it. We just felt a different compete level, a different kind of back-to-our-old ways you start to feel in the hockey game.”

Goalie James Reimer, who stopped 25 of 26 shots against Buffalo for his seventh win of the season, said Detroit embraced the need to play with urgency and desperation.

“Our sense of urgency was just incredible (Saturday),” Reimer said. “There was a complete buy-in. From my point of view when I was watching the game, you felt comfortable back there just knowing guys were in their spots and working. When they made good plays or were on the winning side of a few battles, our guys fought back and got back on the right side of the puck. It was a lot of fun to watch them.”

For the second straight game, the Red Wings will face another club battling for a spot in the Eastern Conference Playoffs race. Pittsburgh enters Sunday seven points behind Detroit for the second wild-card spot and will host the Red Wings again on April 11 to wrap up the season series.

“We dictate what is going to happen,” Fischer said. “If we go on a good run here and put together a couple of wins, we know how that’s going to work and how difficult these next three to four weeks are. We control our own destiny. What else do you want? Everyone can look at the negative side, but we’re in a playoff hunt with 15 games left to go. That’s why we play hockey.”

The Penguins are currently seventh in the Metropolitan Division and are fresh off a 7-4 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday.

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby leads the club in goals (32) and points (66) this season, while Erik Karlsson has a team-high 37 assists. Goalie Tristan Jarry and former Red Wings netminder Alex Nedeljkovic have both spent time in the crease for the Penguins this season, with Jarry making the majority of starts (46) along with a 19-22-5 record, 2.79 goals-against average and .906 save percentage.