PREVIEW: Red Wings welcome Bruins to Little Caesars Arena for first time this season on Saturday

DETROIT -- Looking to build more home-ice momentum, the Detroit Red Wings will go for their second straight win when they battle the Boston Bruins at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

“It’s called Hockeytown for a reason,” Marco Kasper said. “The fans always show up."

Puck drop between Detroit (8-9-2; 18 points) and Boston (9-9-3; 21 points) is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit Extra and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).

Fans are encouraged to arrive early to see the Original Six and Atlantic Division rivals go head-to-head, as the first 7,500 in attendance will receive the popular Red Wings-themed Zamboni Gravy Boat, courtesy of Meijer.

Detroit returned from its four-game road trip with a 2-1 comeback victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday. Jonatan Berggren sparked the Red Wings’ third-period response by scoring the game-tying goal with 4:46 left in the final frame, then Lucas Raymond netted the game-winner with 52 seconds remaining.

“We always talk about taking care of home ice, and I think we did that,” Kasper said. “It was a frustrating road trip – three losses in the last three games before [Thursday’s] win. We knew we pretty much had to win that game. We went into it with the mindset that we’ve been playing some good periods of hockey, just our overall 60 minutes have been there. [On Thursday] we stuck to the plan. We didn’t get goals in the first or second [periods], but we kept going and it finally went in. A huge win for us.”

With three goals over his last five games, Berggren said finally getting rewarded with some offense feels good after all the hard work he’s put in since the beginning of the season.

“I had kind of a rough start points-wise, but I feel like my overall game was pretty good and I was always confident,” Berggren said. “I knew the goals would probably come if I kept doing the right stuff.”

Other than goalie Cam Talbot starting and Justin Holl back in the mix, head coach Derek Lalonde said the Red Wings’ lineup against the Bruins will look very similar to how it did on Thursday.

“We’re going to go same forward group, but get Justin Holl in,” Lalonde said after Friday’s practice. “Haven’t decided for who yet, just want to keep our D going and some rhythm. We need to find some consistency with whoever plays on the given night.”

Boston ended a three-game skid by blanking the Utah Hockey Club, 1-0, on Thursday in Joe Sacco’s debut as interim head coach after Jim Montgomery was relieved of his duties on Tuesday.

Currently three points ahead of the Red Wings in the Atlantic Division standings, the Bruins are led offensively this season by David Pastrnak (8-10—18), who has four points in his last five games. Captain Brad Marchand (5-9—14) has the second-most goals and points on the team, while Elias Lindholm (3-7—10) is third in scoring.

Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves on Thursday for his second shutout of the campaign, and owns a 4-2-1 record with a 2.38 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in eight games. Fellow netminder Jeremy Swayman, who signed an eight-year contract with the Boston on Oct. 6, is 5-7-2 with a 3.47 GAA, .884 SV% and has one shutout in 14 games.

“They’ve had success, and being one of the top teams in the league, it’s still keeping the puck out of the net,” Lalonde said about the Bruins. “I know they’ve relied on some world-class goaltending over the last couple years.”