"We're kind of figuring out the way we need to play, and obviously it took a little longer than all of us wanted, but this last stretch of six games we've been bringing it together," said forward Jordan Martinook, who leads the team with five road goals. "We just need to continue on the track we're going and hopefully we can keep stringing wins together."
Mike Smith, who did not practice Monday, will start in goal. He has allowed two or less goals in four of his five starts this month and owns an 11-7-2 career record against the Sharks. In 21 games, his save percentage is .943 vs. San Jose.
Radim Vrbata leads the Coyotes with seven points and co-leads the team with 14 points. Max Domi also has 14 points and a team-high 11 assists.
Captain Shane Doan is expected to play in his 1,487th career game to tie Wayne Gretzky for 19th place on the NHL's all-time games played list. Doan needs two goals to reach 400 and just one assist to claim the franchise's all-time assist record. He will enter the game tied with Thomas Steen with 553 helpers.
The Coyotes already have beaten San Jose, the defending Western Conference champs, twice this season, but both of those games were played in Glendale. To beat them a third time, Martinook said Arizona must play with the puck as much as it can.
"They have a lot of high-skill players and they are a heavy team that wants to play below our goal line," Martinook said. "Stopping their cycle and stopping them from getting pucks low to high is a big key for us. In the two games we've played them we've limited the chances they get off those plays."
