The Detroit Red Wings continued their trend of playing in streaks in a big way in their last outing, a dominating 7-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets to snap their winning streak on Saturday. They've now won two straight, following a two-game losing skid, and are looking to make it three as they hit the road to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The teams are very evenly matched, with Detroit having just one point less, while sporting similar stats in power play percentages, goals-per-game and goals-against per game.
Pittsburgh will once again be without its star player, Sidney Crosby, who missed both games between these two teams last season as well. Crosby will sit out his third-straight game on Tuesday with post-concussion symptoms (read as: a concussion), a definite blow to the Penguins. When he returned on Nov. 21, Crosby went on to put up 12 points in eight games until Dec. 5, but went back to being inactive after a game on Dec. 8 against the Boston Bruins, in which he was hit early and often.
That doesn't mean the Penguins are struggling without him, though. They have been losing more lately than previously, but they're still mixing it up with a good number wins and remain in a good position on the season. They're looking to put together a winning streak when they host the Red Wings, after winning their last outing against the New York Islanders by a margin of 6-3. Before that, they'd dropped 3-1 and 3-2 affairs to the Bruins and Flyers, respectively.
It's the first and only meeting between the two teams this season, with Pittsburgh holding the recent edge, having won both games last season, despite being without Crosby. The game is set for 7:00 p.m. eastern on Tuesday.