Preview: Coyotes Close Homestand Against Senators on Thursday

The Arizona Coyotes close out their three-game homestand against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday before hitting the road for two consecutive road games in Minnesota and Winnipeg.
Thursday's game marks the second-and-final time the Senators and Coyotes will match up this season, as Ottawa won the first meeting 6-2 on Oct. 22.
Defenseman Troy Stecher will play in his 400th career game tonight, and his 41st with the Coyotes. The 28-year-old veteran blueliner has spent time in Vancouver (286 games), Detroit (60 games) and Los Angeles (13 games).

Forward Clayton Keller enters tonight's game with a three-game point streak against the Senators, posting three goals and four assists over that span. The
All-Star forward
has 37 points in 40 games this season.
Barrett Hayton has found the back of the net in two consecutive games, as well as three straight games at Mullett Arena, and has truly gelled well since joining Keller and Nick Schmaltz on the team's top line a few games ago.
Tweet from @ArizonaCoyotes: This angle though 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QSkWkjVQ54
"The last couple of games with them, I feel like we've generated a good amount of offense," Hayton said. "Those last two games had lots of chances, scoring those goals in the first period, so I think there's some chemistry there and there's definitely a lot that we can build on."
The Coyotes have not scored a power-play goal since going 1-for-2 with the man advantage against Florida on Jan. 3, and are up against a Senators penalty kill that is fourth-best in the league at 82.86 percent, tied with the Dallas Stars.
Prior to
Tuesday's game against the San Jose Sharks
, Arizona had just one power-play opportunity in three of five games.
"We don't get power plays," head coach André Tourigny said. "Last game we had a little bit more, we would not find a way to score.
"I feel we generated good scoring chances, we just could not find a way to put it behind the goalie."
Though starting lineups were not yet available prior to posting, Karel Vejmelka may be in line for his third consecutive start tonight. The 26-year-old netminder is 11-14-4 with two shutouts this season, posting a 3.35 goals-against average and .902 save percentage. He's been even better at Mullett Arena this season, going 6-2-2 with a 3.03 GAA and .911 SV%.
Player to Watch: Keep your eye on Schmaltz, who's looking for his first goal since Dec. 27 against the Colorado Avalanche. The 26-year-old has five goals and nine assists in just eight games against the Sens in his career, and notched a franchise-record seven points against them on March 5, 2022.
Tweet from @ArizonaCoyotes: Sets the franchise record for points in a single game? Yeah, that's belt worthy. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/BO589O7FD0
ABOUT THE SENATORS
Ottawa has dropped two straight games, getting outscored 11-4 over that span. Though the Senators' 39 points currently have them in seventh place in the Atlantic Division, they trail both the Buffalo Sabres and Florida Panthers by just one point.
Winger Brady Tkachuk leads the team with 40 points and 26 assists, while Tim Stutzle's 18 goals are tops. Still, the Senators have five players with 36-or-more points: Tkachuk, Stutzle (39), Drake Batherson (37), Claude Giroux (36) and Alex DeBrincat (36).
"They're a really good team," Tourigny said. "They're a team that feeds off turnovers and odd-man rushes. We need to make sure we're disciplined, manage the puck, stay above them, and don't give them an opportunity to do that."
In addition to its stellar penalty kill, Ottawa's power play ranks sixth in the league with a 27.15 percent success rate. The Sens were 0-for-5 against the Predators on Monday, but had scored four goals in the previous three games before that.
"Their special teams over there have been unreal this year," Hayton said. "We have to be smart with that, and at the same time, play our own game. Playing with Kells and Schmaltzy, we are going to generate offense, and we're going to be reliable and be trusted defensively, as well."
Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg have split time between the pipes this season, with Talbot posting a 10-11-1 record with a 2.90 GAA and .906 SV%, while Forsberg is 7-8-2 with a 3.04 GAA and .909 SV%. Talbot started the last two games - both losses - for Ottawa, while Forsberg has been in net for the team's last two wins.
Player to Watch: Ottawa was blanked its last time out, but Stutzle was on fire prior to that, and has nine points, including six goals, in his last five games. The 20-year-old winger was drafted third overall in the 2020 NHL Draft, and has five assists in three career games against the Coyotes.