A Penguins-Red Wings preview

Some news and notes, numbers and quotes in advance of the Penguins’ game at Detroit tonight:

*** Red Wings coach Mike Babcock has long been an unabashed fan of Penguins center Sidney Crosby, with whom he won gold medals for Canada in 2010 and 2014, but it turns out he also thinks highly of left winger Chris Kunitz, a 2014 Olympian and Crosby’s linemate: “[Kunitz] is a great man. He just flat-out brings it every day. He does it with and without the puck. It doesn’t matter where he’s been. He’s a star who’s in a workingman’s body.”

*** Penguins coach Mike Johnston has yet to name his goalie for tonight, but there’s a good chance it will be Thomas Greiss, who would be making his Penguins debut. Greiss has a lifetime save percentage of .927 in October.

*** The Penguins are 4-1-1 in their past six games against Detroit and 3-1-1 in their past five at Joe Louis Arena.

*** Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, on trying to contain the Penguins’ power play, which is converting a league-best 42.1 percent of its chances: “The biggest key would be to not let them set up. Win the faceoffs, and try to disrupt their breakouts. If we can stop them from getting into our zone, Crosby and Malkin won’t be able to have as much fun.”

*** Crosby has slipped into a five-way tie for fifth place in the NHL scoring race, one point behind the leaders.

*** Jimmy Howard, who is expected to start in goal for Detroit, has a 3-0-1 career record in five starts against the Penguins.

*** Evgeni Malkin is the only Penguins player with a point in each of the first five games. He has at least one goal in each of his past three games against Detroit.

*** The Penguins are 4-1-1 in their past six games against Detroit and 3-1-1 in their past five at Joe Louis Arena.

*** Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is tied for the league lead with four power-play assists.

*** Detroit is averaging just 7.7 penalty minutes per game, tying for the second-fewest in the league. The surprising part is that the team with which the Red Wings are tied is Philadelphia.

*** Red Wings center Luke Glendening, on why his team has been able to kill all 18 of its opponents’ power plays this season: “We’re being more aggressive than we were last year. We’ve done a pretty decent job on faceoffs, which allows us to clear the puck quickly. When you get to start [a kill] with the puck in their zone, it’s always a plus.”

*** This will be just the Penguins’ second away game of the season, but they will play seven of their next 10 on the road.

*** The Penguins are one of just four clubs that haven’t had a game go to overtime this season. The others are Minnesota, Columbus and Winnipeg.

*** Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist has the 11th-best shooting percentage in the NHL, with four goals on 13 shots (30.8 percent).

*** Looming milestones: Malkin needs two assists for 400, winger Pascal Dupuis needs one point for 400 and winger Craig Adams [still] needs one assist for 100.

*** Tonight’s game completes the first of 17 sets of games on consecutive days for the Penguins.

*** Babock, on how his team’s power play suffers in comparison to that of the Penguins: “Theirs is way better than ours. Maybe we can steal something they’re doing and try to get our own power play going.”

*** The Penguins were outshot in their 5-3 loss to Philadelphia Wednesday for the first time this season.

*** The Penguins did not have a game-day skate, although injured defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, defenseman Scott Harrington, forward Andrew Ebbett and Greiss worked out on the ice with goalie coach Mike Bales.