PREVIEW: Red Wings ready for road battle against Rangers on Monday

NEW YORK -- Hitting the road for the first time this season, the Detroit Red Wings will take the ice against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Puck drop between Detroit (1-1-0; 2 points) and New York (1-0-1; 3 points) is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). The Original Six clubs will square off twice in a four-day span, with the Red Wings facing the Rangers at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

“We feel pretty confident that if we play our game the right way, we can play with anybody and beat anybody,” Justin Holl said. “[Monday] is going to be a big challenge, but with a big challenge comes a big opportunity too.”

Detroit concluded its season-opening homestand with a 3-0 shutout win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Goalie Cam Talbot made 42 saves while J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp and captain Dylan Larkin each scored their first goal of the season.

The underlying numbers from the Red Wings’ first win of the season were encouraging to head coach Derek Lalonde, who pointed out there’s still areas the team needs to improve on.

“We’ll certainly take that game -- the way we defended, the type of slot chances and Grade A’s we gave up -- but that’s a hard-volume game and a lot of zone time,” Lalonde said. “Lots of shots against.”

Christian Fischer (upper body) is day-to-day after exiting in the second period of Saturday’s game and will not be available in New York, according to Lalonde. Jeff Petry (upper body) is also day-to-day, and will miss his second consecutive game.

On the other side of the ice on Monday are the Rangers, who fell to the Utah Hockey Club, 6-5, in overtime on Saturday.

Last season, New York topped the Metropolitan Division with a 55-23-4 (114 points) record. After sweeping the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference First Round and getting past the Carolina Hurricanes in the Second Round, the Rangers fell to the eventual Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers in the Conference Final.

To have success against the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, Lalonde said his club will need to play like it did defensively against Nashville.

“Obviously we don’t want to spend the entire time in our zone as much as we did at times, but our attention to urgency defensively,” Lalonde said. “If you gave [the Predators] easy offense, the type of talent they have, it could have been a long night for us. We limited odd-man, Grade-A and slot chances, especially 5-on-5 [on Saturday].”