GLENDALE -The Coyotes will look to continue their strong play in November on Thursday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Gila River Arena. The puck drops at 7 p.m. Arizona time.
Arizona (5-7-0) has won three of its four games this month, including an impressive 4-2 victory at Colorado on Tuesday.
Preview: Coyotes vs. Jets
Arizona is hosting Winnipeg on Thursday night
By
Dave Vest @davest4yotes / Coyotes Sr. Director of News Content
Forward Jordan Martinook co-leads the team with five goals and has been arguably the team's best player in the first dozen games. In Tuesday's win, he played first-line center.
"He's given us versatility in all roles of the game," Head Coach Dave Tippett said. "(On Tuesday) he played the power play, he's a penalty killer, he's been pretty decent on face-offs. We were looking for some stability there (at center) and he's come in and given us stability there … He's just a real good utility player for us. Anything we ask him to do, he's more than happy to jump in and do whatever he can to help and that's the sign of a good teammate and a good player."
Martinook welcomes playing various roles.
"I'm not the fanciest guy or the guy that's going to blow you away," Martinook said. "I just go out and try and work hard every night. I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win. It changes from game to game but obviously I want to make an impact any way I can on the game."
Louis Domingue will start in goal for the Coyotes. Domingue is slowly but surely improving his stats as the season progresses. He has won three of his past four decisions and he allowed just two goals in each of the three wins.
Captain Shane Doan will look to end an eight-game pointless streak vs. Winnipeg, the city in which he began his NHL career in 1995-96. Doan has notched nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past six games vs. the Jets.
Tippett said defenseman Michael Stone (upper-body injury) is close to returning to the lineup after missing five games. Meanwhile, center Martin Hanzal remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury and won't play on Thursday.
Winnipeg (6-7-1) is starting a two-game road trip looking to build off a resounding 8-2 win over Dallas on Tuesday.
Rookie Patrick Laine, whom the Jets selected with the second overall pick in this year's NHL Draft, notched his second career hat trick in that game and leads the League with 11 goals. The Finnish forward is just the fourth player in NHL history to produce multiple hat tricks before his 19th birthday.
"We've just got to take his time and space away and try to keep the puck out of his hands," Coyotes forward Tobias Rieder said.
Center Mark Scheifele also is having an impressive offensive season with nine goals and nine assists for 18 points, which leads the NHL.
"He has a real desire to be a top player," said Tippett, who was an assistant coach when Scheifele played for Team North America at the World Cup of Hockey 2016. "He wanted to be in that top group with (Auston) Matthews and (Connor) McDavid and his work ethic is very strong."
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck will make his fourth consecutive start. He has posted a 4-4-0 record, a 2.91 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in nine games this season.
Defenseman Jacob Trouba, who signed a two-year contract this week after a holdout, will not play vs. the Coyotes.
READ OFFICIAL GAME NOTES
BROADCAST INFO:
TV: FOX Sports Arizona
Radio: ESPN Phoenix 620 AM
COYOTES PROJECTED LINEUP VS. JETS:
Forwards
McGinn - Martinook - Vrbata
Domi - Dvorak - Duclair
Rieder - Richardson - Doan
Crouse - Dauphin - White
Defensemen
Ekman-Larsson - Murphy
Goligoski - DeAngelo
Chychrun - Schenn
Goalies
Domingue
Peters
