Preview: Red Wings look to get back on track against Bruins

BOSTON - With a young team in the NHL, ups and downs are bound to happen throughout the season, and after starting the 2021-22 campaign on the up with a solid 4-2-1 record, the Detroit Red Wings have lost their last three games and will attempt to stop the downward trend Thursday night against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden.
The Red Wings are in the midst of four-game road trip and after dropping a 5-4 decision on Saturday in Toronto and falling 3-0 on Tuesday in Montreal, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said his team needs to show maturity and mental toughness by quickly putting the negativity of the last two results behind them.

"We came out and worked hard today and competed hard," Blashill said after Wednesday's practice. "I think we have a group that cares a bunch. Sometimes you lose your way a little bit. Certainly lost their way (Tuesday) night, but I thought they responded well."
Blashill said the best way for his young team to rebound is to be aware of its mistakes and work extremely hard to reduce as many of those mistakes as possible on a nightly basis.
"We go out and practice to make sure we're getting better at certain things that we weren't good enough at, and the players have to go out and execute at a high level," Blashill said. "Now that doesn't guarantee wins. It's a hard league. We're going to play a really good team (Thursday) night.
"But we've got to make sure we get back to playing the right way, meaning hard to play against, tight checking with tons of emotion and tons of compete."

One of the young Red Wings who is learning on the fly is 21-year-old defenseman Moritz Seider, who gained national attention this week as he was named
October's NHL Rookie of the Month
.
Although he was happy to earn the recognition, the humble rookie said he'd gladly substitute the individual honor for team success.
"It'd be way nicer to win more hockey games," Seider said Wednesday about his reaction to the NHL honor. "Obviously it's a nice little appreciation, but all-in-all, I just want to win hockey games."
Seider, who was the first Red Wings rookie to earn at least eight assists in a calendar month since Pavel Datsyuk in 2002, said Detroit is ready to put the last three games behind it and get back to winning.
"I'm really looking forward to the next two games. We have two more on this road trip and I think we're hungry and we want to get these four points," Seider said. "I think we've turned the page and I'm really excited for Boston."

The Bruins come into Thursday's game at 4-3-0 this season, fresh off handing the first-place Florida Panthers their first loss on Saturday.
13-year veteran winger Brad Marchand leads Boston in goals (4), assists (4) and points (8). The Bruins have featured a balanced offensive attack early this season, with six players earning at least three points in their first seven games.
Boston has platooned goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman so far this season, with Ullmark seeing the most success at 3-1-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. The 22-year-old Swayman comes in at 1-2-0 with a 2.71 GAA and .893 save percentage.
Seider said one of the biggest aspects of Thursday's game will be to re-invigorate Detroit's power play, which excelled during the preseason and early in the regular season, but has struggled in the last five games, converting just 2-for-17 on the man advantage during that span.
"If I hit the net (Tuesday), I think we score, and then (Filip Zadina) hits the crossbar right after," Seider said. "Getting better puck retrievals, I think it's going to be key for us. I think sooner rather than later, we'll get our chances, and we'll look really good."
Blashill said Thursday morning that he doesn't anticipate captain Dylan Larkin to be in the lineup against Boston. It's expected to be the second consecutive game Larkin will miss due to personal reasons.
Thursday's matchup against Boston will be Detroit's first game against their Original Six rival since Feb. 15, 2020, after being in separate divisions last season due to COVID-19. The Red Wings have gone 5-2-0 in their last seven games against the Bruins, but Detroit hasn't won at TD Garden since Dec. 1, 2018.
Puck drop on Thursday night is set for 7 p.m., and fans can catch all the action on Bally Sports Detroit or the Red Wings Radio Network.