Detroit's week has been a lot of good news with a little sloppiness mixed in. Alex DeBrincat scored twice in a 5-4 overtime loss to New Jersey, giving him 4 goals on the season, and the club finalized a 7-year extension for him the next day. Then the Red Wings beat Philadelphia 2-1 after Matvei Michkov put the Flyers up early, with Anton Johansson tying it in the 2nd before Detroit scored the winner in the 3rd.
The defensive turnaround is the Detroit storyline to watch. The Red Wings allowed 37 shots in the game before the Flyers win, then held Philadelphia to a single goal. That's less impressive once you remember the Flyers are winless at 0-6-3 and have scored 1 goal in 4 of their last 5. San Jose isn't an offensive juggernaut either. The Sharks were blanked 5-0 in Dallas and scored 1 against Edmonton, but they did hang 3 on Boston and 3 more in Nashville, so Saturday will show which version of the Detroit defense is real.
The Sharks are 2-3 in their last 5, with both wins coming by 3-2 on the road, in St. Louis and Nashville. Their bad nights have been bad: 5-0 in Dallas and 6-3 at home to Boston. Detroit gets the travel edge, staying home after Thursday while San Jose flies in from Nashville, but both teams are on a 1-day turnaround. Neither team has posted a line yet, so the board will open once one goes up.