Pre-Game Capsule: Coyotes vs. Kings

GAME 69:
Coyotes (22-35-11) vs. Kings (38-26-5)
Arizona will look to bank another two points on home ice on Tuesday night when it skates against Los Angeles in Glendale.

WHERE: Gila River Arena
WHEN: 7 p.m. (AZ time)
TV: FOX Sports Arizona Plus
RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

KEY FACTS:
• Arizona will play its first game since Head Coach Rick Tocchet was granted an indefinite leave of absence because of a family illness. Assistant Coach John MacLean will assume head coaching duties until Tocchet returns. MacLean served as head coach of the New Jersey Devils for 33 games in 2010-11.
"Family comes first," General Manager John Chayka said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with 'Toc' as he deals with this personal matter. It's important that he takes the time to be there with his family."
• The Coyotes are 10-3-2 in their past 15 games and have earned 22 points since Feb. 8. That's tied for the fourth most points earned in the NHL during that span.
• Adin Hill will start in goal. Hill is 0-3-0 with a 3.75 goals-against average and a .880 save percentage in three NHL appearances, all this season. Darcy Kuemper, whom the Coyotes acquired from Los Angeles just last month, will be Hill's backup. Antti Raanta skated with teammates on Tuesday morning but will sit out a fifth consecutive game.

• Oliver Ekman-Larsson needs just two more goals to become the sixth defenseman from Sweden to score 100 NHL career goals.
• Jordan Martinook has notched eight points in 12 career games vs. Los Angeles, including five of his 26 NHL goals.
• Niklas Hjalmarsson leads the Coyotes with 101 blocked shots in 42 games. That's 2.4 per game, which ranks ninth in the NHL.
• Los Angeles has won five of its past seven games and will enter the game in the third place in the Pacific Division standings, one point ahead of Anaheim. The Kings rank second in the League in penalty killing at 84.0 percent. Jonathan Quick made 35 saves vs. Vancouver on Monday night to earn his 48th career shutout. Look for Jack Campbell, the 11th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, to make his fifth NHL appearance should LA decide to rest Quick in the second game of the back-to-back situation. Anze Kopitar leads the Kings and ranks 12th in the NHL with 75 points (28 goals, 47 assists). Adrian Kempe has tallied 33 points (16 goals, 17 assists), the most by a Kings rookie since Kopitar produced 61 in 2006-07.

COYOTE BITES
• "He's a team person. He's going through his situation, but it hurts him to be away from the guys as well. It's on the players and everybody to rally around here ... It's easy to say you want to win (for him), and that's great, but we just want an effort. We want to keep this ball rolling. It's been going in the right direction, so if we can keep it going in that direction I think it will ease his mind." -- John MacLean on Rick Tocchet
• "I think everyone is just buying into the system and we're playing 200-foot hockey and playing good defensively. We have to make sure we keep playing like that and good things will happen." -- Christian Dvorak
• "I don't think we can take too much from the last time we played (LA). We laid an egg that game for sure, but we've played them tough the last little while that I've been here ... We know they're scratching and clawing right now for a (playoff) spot so they're going to be a hungry team. We have to match that. We're playing pretty good hockey right now so we have to keep that going." -- Alex Goligoski on Kings