DETROIT – Moritz Seider hasn’t missed a game during his Detroit Red Wings career, always logs more minutes than anyone and is generally indispensable.

It wasn’t ideal on Saturday when he risked injury by dropping the gloves with one of the best fighters in the NHL in Boston’s Mark Kastelic.

Seider’s teammates and coach appreciated the way he stood up to the challenge.

“That’s part of the game,” Todd McLellan said. “Mo’s a big man. He handles himself well. Throughout his career, he’s going to have to do that every now and then when you’re 6-5 and you play as physical as he does. He came back and he continued to play physical. He finished some checks.”

Said Ben Chiarot: “Mo’s a big, big strong guy, plays a physical game. I thought he did a great job. It’s good for the guys, too, seeing one of our top guys do that.”

It was Seider’s second career fight (the first was against Nashville Filip Forsberg on March 23, 2024).

“I wouldn’t say it’s ideal to square up with a guy who probably has over 50 (fights) in his career,” Seider said. “I didn’t really have much of a choice. And obviously you don’t want to back down.”

The Red Wings have some players who’ll fight, like Travis Hamonic and Chiarot, but generally don’t scrap much. They have five fighting majors this season, which is on pace to eclipse last season’s total of nine, which was the second fewest in the league.

“I don’t think we need a fighter on our team,” Seider said. “We just got to match their intensity, and I think we did that. We just can’t back down from those things.”

The Red Wings and Bruins meet again Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network) and players are bracing for another physical, chippy game.

“I think it’s going to be almost the same game as in Boston,” Seider said. “Kind of have to expect a physical game, but also very tactical approach from their side. They give us the puck a lot. I think we worked on a couple things today and just got to be prepared to match the intensity, if not even up it a little bit.”

Said Chiarot: “Boston’s a big, physical team, tries to play a grinding style. So, it’s going to happen against a team like that.”

The Red Wings (13-11-2) are looking to snap a four-game winless streak (0-3-1) as they cap a stretch in which they will have played 10-of-13 at home. They start a six-game trip Thursday in Columbus.

Appleton out

Forward Mason Appleton will miss Tuesday’s game and is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.