Gustav-Nyquist-12-14-13

Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist leads the team with 19 goals including a league-leading 14 since Jan. 20.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings expect to be chasing the puck much of the game tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, Fox Sports Detroit).

That’s just the way it is when you’re missing Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg and defending Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The game is a mismatch in skill and talent, and Red Wings coach Mike Babcock knows his young, injury-riddled lineup's best chance for success is to outwork the Penguins while showing determination and poise.

“We know tonight, or last game or every game we’ve played for a long time the other team is going to have more skill than us,” Babcock said. “So what? Skill doesn’t win, teams win. So let’s just get out there and do what we have to do.

“When something goes wrong you need someone to calm you down and make a play with the puck instead of just firing it out and giving it back to the other team so you can say, ‘Here they come again.’ That doesn’t make any sense. They’re going to have the puck more than us tonight. We understand that totally, but when we have it, let’s not give it back to them, let’s make them earn it.”

The Penguins are running away with the Metropolitan Division and second in the Eastern Conference with 94 points, five behind Boston. Pittsburgh ranks near the top of the NHL in virtually every category (fifth in goals for, sixth in goals against and second in both the power play and penalty kill).

But, the Penguins are just 5-4-2 in their past 11 games.

Babcock said one of the keys for his club is to spend more time in the offensive zone.

“Your play without the puck is way better when you have the puck all the time and you’re in the offensive zone,” Babcock said. “We put our D under a lot of heat right now. So if you have the same D and we play in the offensive zone, do you think they’re great? Play in a rocking chair, slide back and forth on the offensive blue line, everyone looks good. When you’re continually in your own zone it’s a lot harder.

“We spend 60 percent of the game for sure on defense. The way to have success is if you have a 45-second shift, you want to spend seven seconds in your own zone and the rest in the offensive zone. Right now we spend some time in our own zone.”

Crosby leads the league with 91 points, 17 more than Toronto’s Phil Kessel, and is the overwhelming favorite to win the Hart Trophy.

Pittsburgh won the only meeting between the teams this season, 4-1 on Dec. 14 at the Joe. They will meet one more time, April 9 at Pittsburgh.

The Red Wings (75 points) have allowed a power-play goal in each of their past two games, after going 32-of-34 on the penalty kill in the previous 11 games.

“They’re very similar to Chicago with the skill they have and the success they have on the power play,” Detroit’s Drew Miller said. “We just got to stay true to our system and play strong and count on (Jimmy Howard) to make saves and block shots around him, too.”

Here are the Red Wings’ lines and defense pairings:

Johan Franzen-David Legwand-Daniel Alfredsson

Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Gustav Nyquist

Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Todd Bertuzzi

Landon Ferraro-Cory Emmerton-Teemu Pulkkinen

Niklas Kronwall-Brendan Smith

Kyle Quincey-Danny DeKeyser

Brian Lashoff-Jakub Kindl

Adam Almquist (scratched)

Jimmy Howard (starting)

Jonas Gustavsson

Gustavsson said he will return tonight to back-up Howard. He has been out since March 7 with a groin issue. Petr Mrazek likely will be reassigned to Grand Rapids today.