Red Wings-Oilers Preview 3-15-13
(AP) -- The Edmonton Oilers' season looked to be spiraling south in a hurry, but a strong conclusion to their recent road trip suggests otherwise - especially with the team's captain back on the ice and finding a rhythm.
The Detroit Red Wings, meanwhile, are still trying to stop their own skid as they visit the Oilers on Friday night in hopes of continuing their recent dominance in this series.
Edmonton (10-11-5) went 4-8-3 while Shawn Horcoff missed 15 games with a broken knuckle. Starting a franchise-record nine-game road trip without Horcoff didn't help, and the Oilers lost five straight in the middle of that trek.
Horcoff returned for the final two games of the trip and scored a goal in each to help his club to back-to-back wins - including one at NHL-leading Chicago on Sunday. Wearing extra reinforcement in his glove to protect his hand, Horcoff has twice as many goals in the last two games as he had in seven contests before the injury.
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