Tonight on NBCSN: Blackhawks and Red Wings face off in a battle of winning streaks

Things in the Detroit-Chicago rivalry this season have been relatively quiet but that’s not likely to stay the same when they meet tonight (8:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN). After going through a nine-game losing streak, the Blackhawks are winners of three in a row. Meanwhile, you might’ve heard a bit about the Red Wings’ home winning streak, but they head to Chicago on a six-game win streak of their own.

As the saying goes, something’s got to give.

Chicago snapping out of their funk has been thanks to opportunistic goal scoring and seeing Corey Crawford getting his game back in order. The Blackhawks pounced on both the Rangers and Blue Jackets recently to knock them down before they knew what hit them.

Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, and Marian Hossa have all been strong with their offense of late but could use a little more out of Patrick Kane to get back to their full capabilities. Duncan Keith reemerging as a presence along the blue line has given Chicago a huge lift to take the stress off their forwards as well. They’ll need all that and more against Detroit.

The Red Wings have seen just about everything go right of late. Jimmy Howard gets hurt? Fine, Joey MacDonald steps in and they don’t miss a beat. Henrik Zetterberg slumps? That’s OK, Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen will pick up the slack. Now Zetterberg is playing better and the Wings are getting production from all four lines as well as their defense. No wonder they’ve got the best record in the league.

One area where they’ve been weak all season, however, is on the road. We know how incredible the Red Wings have been at home, but away from Joe Louis Arena they’re mortal going 15-15-1. With Chicago once again beaming with confidence, if the Wings want to keep their own winning streak alive, they’ll have to get their match-ups figured out in the hostile atmosphere of United Center.