The win put a stop to a three-game skid and gave Chicago their first standing points since a March 18 overtime loss to Vancouver. This is the first of three games on this road trip for Chicago, who will next travel to California to play the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings.
Patrick Kane is the Blackhawks leading scorer with 102 points (41G, 61A) in 74 games this season. Jonathan Toews is second with 74 points (32G, 42A) in 75 appearances. Alex DeBrincat is second on the team in goals with 38 and third in points with 71. Erik Gustafsson leads the defensemen with 53 points this season (16G, 37A).
Between the pipes, Corey Crawford has a 13-17-3 record with a 2.97 GAA and .908 SV%. Cam Ward is 14-11-4 this season with a 3.72 GAA and .893 SV%.
Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini will be making their return to the desert. The two were acquired from the Coyotes via trade in November.
The Coyotes have struggling to put together wins of late and have dropped all of their last five games. Their last outing was a 2-0 loss to the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Sunday.
Arizona's scoring is led by Clayton Keller, who has 46 points (14G, 32A) in 76 games this season. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is second on the team with 40 points (12G, 28A) in 75 games, while Alex Galchenyuk is third with 39 points (17G, 22A) in 66 appearances. Ex-Blackhawks forward Vinnie Hinostroza has 15 goals and 34 total points in 66 games.
In net, Darcy Kuemper is the workhorse for the Coyotes. He has a 24-19-7 record with a 2.45 GAA and .921 SV%.
SEASON SERIES:
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the two clubs. Arizona cruised to a 4-1 win in the first meeting at the United Center back on Oct. 18. The Blackhawks rebounded in the rematch, dominating Arizona 7-1 in Chicago on March 11. Perlini recorded his first NHL hat trick against his former team that night.
LINEUP NOTES:
There are no lineup changes for the Blackhawks ahead of their game in Arizona. Their lineup versus Colorado was as follows:
DeBrincat-Toews-Kane
Perlini-Strome-Kahun
Saad-Anisimov-Sikura
Kunitz-Kampf-Kruger
Keith-Gustafsson
Forsling-Seabrook
Koekkoek-Murphy
Crawford
Ward
OPPONENT TO WATCH:
Vinnie Hinostroza, a Chicago native, was taken in the sixth round of the 2012 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks. He was traded to the Arizona Coyotes on July 12, 2018 as part of the Marian Hossa deal that helped Chicago free up cap space and bring back Marcus Kruger, and bring in prospect MacKenzie Entwistle.
Hinostroza is having his best season in the NHL with a career-high 15 goals and 34 points in 66 games. He has 12 penalty minutes and is -8 for the season. He hasn't scored since his hat trick on March 14, but has four or more shots on goal in each of his last five games.
