PACK FACTS
Tomorrow is the final game of the season series between the Coyotes and Golden Knights. The Coyotes captured the most recent meeting 3-1 on Feb. 25 behind two goals from Nick Schmaltz and a tally from Shayne Gostisbehere. Travis Boyd scored the lone Coyotes goal in the Dec. 3 loss and has found the scoresheet in three of his four showings against Vegas.
Schmaltz and Phil Kessel pace current Coyotes with 11 career points against the Golden Knights. Kessel has registered five points (2-3-5) in eight career games at T-Mobile Arena, including four assists over his last three appearances there.
Schmaltz scored again on Thursday for his 22nd goal of the season to set a new personal best. The tally was also his 50th point of the season, marking the second time in his career he's reached the 50-point mark (52 in 2017-18). Schmaltz joined Clayton Keller as the second Coyote to get to 50 points, marking the first time since 2017-18 Arizona had multiple players reach the mark.
Now on a modest three-game point streak, Schmaltz will look to look to find the scoresheet in four or more straight games for the second time this season and the first since his seven-game run from March 3-15. Dating back to Feb. 9, Schmaltz ranks among NHL leaders in goals (17, 9th), even-strength goals (14, T-6th) and even-strength points (29, 8th).
The Coyotes are 7-10-5 all-time against the Golden Knights, but are 2-1-1 in the last four meetings.
A LOOK AT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Vegas (39-29-4, 82 pts) is two points behind Dallas for the final wild card spot but have played two more games than the Stars. Jonathan Marchessault has registered 10 points (3-7-10) in his last six games to grab the team lead with 58 points on the campaign and is two goals shy of achieving his second career 30-goal season. Goaltender Robin Lehner recently returned from a lower-body injury and got the start in each of the last two games and is yet to face the Coyotes this season. The Golden Knights are 7-3-0 in their last 10 contests but dropped a 5-1 decision to Vancouver last time out (April 6).
MILESTONES TO WATCH
Alex Galchenyuk: One point from 350 career NHL points.
Phil Kessel: Two goals from 400 career NHL goals.
Phil Kessel: One assist from 550 career NHL assists.
KEY CONNECTIONS
Ex-Coyotes
• None
Ex-Golden Knights
• None
Bill Armstrong was Alex Pietrangelo's Assistant General Manager in St. Louis from 2018-20.
Travis Boyd played with Chandler Stephenson in the Washington Capitals organization from 2014-20…Was selected by Washington in 2011 when George McPhee was the General Manager.
Loui Eriksson was teammates with Ben Hutton in Vancouver from 2016-19.
Phil Housleycoached Jack Eichel in Buffalo from 2017-19.
Andrew Ladd was teammates with Robin Lehner in 2018-19 while with the Islanders.
Nick Ritchie won a gold medal with Shea Theodore representing Team Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
Nick Schmaltz represented Team USA with Jack Eichel at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
Anton Stralman played with Jonathan Marchessault in Tampa Bay from 2014-16….Teammates with Evgenii Dadonov in Florida in 2019-20.
