"He's anxious to get in," Tippett said. "He'll jump in there tonight. He's a young player and he's going to grow with our team. He's got a real great attitude and hockey sense. We'll see what he can do."
The Coyotes assigned defenseman Zbynek Michalek to the American Hockey League on Monday signaling the return of defenseman Kevin Connauton to active duty. Connauton suffered a lower-body injury skating informally over the summer and opened the season on the injured reserve list. Meanwhile, forward Jamie McGinn remains sidelined because of an upper-body injury.
Captain Shane Doan notched Arizona's first goal of the season and needs just three more to reach 400 for his NHL career. Only 91 players have reached that mark in League history. Doan has 549 assists, just one helper shy of tying Dale Hawerchuk for second place on the team's all-time assists list. Thomas Steen is first with 553.
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the game-winning goal for Arizona in the opener and played 31:46 in the overtime game. That's the most amount of ice time logged by any player in the NHL so far this season
The Coyotes are looking to be a better road team this season; they've won just 13 of 41 road games in each of the past two seasons.
"Road games are so much harder at the start of the year when teams are fully energized and ready to go and healthy," defenseman Connor Murphy said. "It's big for us to make sure we have things in place to play our full game on the road."
Defenseman Alex Goligoski, one of 10 newcomers on the roster, said the lengthy trip is great for team bonding.
"There's no better way for the guys to get to know each other than being out on the road," Goligoski said. "You're around the guys all the time going to dinners and whatnot, so it'll be good. I think it's a good thing early in the season."
