PREVIEW: Red Wings and Penguins meet for New Year’s Eve clash at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday

DETROIT -- Before ringing in the 2025 calendar year, the Detroit Red Wings will host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night for the annual New Year’s Eve game, presented by Planet Fitness.

Puck drop for the third and final game of the season between Detroit (14-18-4; 32 points) and Pittsburgh (17-16-5; 39 points) is set for 8 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

The Eastern Conference clubs have split their season series thus far. The Penguins came out on top, 6-3, at Little Caesars Arena on Opening Night before the Red Wings took a 3-2 decision in overtime at PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 13.

“New Year’s Eve, I think it’s easy to get up for those games,” Joe Veleno said. “Especially when you’re playing at home. Obviously, there’s no better feeling than to play in front of your home crowd on such a special night.”

Detroit ended a four-game losing streak by defeating the Washington Capitals, 4-2, on Sunday. Scoring four first-period goals, the Red Wings got multi-point performances from Alex DeBrincat (two goals), Patrick Kane (one goal, one assist) and Lucas Raymond (one goal, one assist) to help Todd McLellan earn his first win as the club’s head coach.

“We had a really good start [against the Capitals],” Andrew Copp said. “Took advantage of some chances and the power play got us one. We played with a lot of jump and energy.”

As this season progresses, like every other NHL club, Detroit is seeking more secondary scoring. According to Copp, he believes the Red Wings’ confidence with the puck is starting to rise.

“We have to score more goals and keep more out defensively,” Copp said. “We can improve in all aspects of the game. It feels like we’ve kind of found a little bit of offensive confidence with some combinations, but it’s just like everything else – you got to continue to put the pedal down.”

When McLellan was asked how to get more players going offensively, he explained that “the concept comes first, and then we try to pull everybody into it.”

“There are some offensive concepts that we’ve begun to talk about,” McLellan said. “Some of the beliefs that we have that we’re trying to implement into the players. Blend our beliefs with theirs. Saw some of the attempts [on Sunday] – the volume, the secondary opportunities that were created off the first one are really important.”

The Penguins enter Tuesday ranked fourth in the Metropolitan Division and improved to 4-2-0 in their past six games after edging the New York Islanders, 3-2, on Sunday.

Captain Sidney Crosby paces Pittsburgh in points (40) this season, while Rickard Rakell (17 goals, 14 assists) and Evgeni Malkin (eight goals, 23 assists) are tied for second in scoring with 31 points apiece. In 15 appearances, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic has a 6-5-3 record with a 3.18 goals-against average and .890 save percentage.

“I think we got to use that energy and momentum from last game by starting off strong [on Tuesday],” Veleno said.