Ducks at Coyotes preview

DUCKS (1-0-0) at COYOTES (0-1-0)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A, PRIME, NHL.TV

The Game

The Anaheim Ducks will be looking to start a season 2-0-0 for the first time since 2012-13 when they face the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Saturday.
The Ducks, swept by the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, withstood San Jose's 33-15 edge in shots during a 5-2 win Wednesday. Forward Rickard Rakell had a goal and two assists, forward Adam Henrique had a goal and an assist, and forward Max Comtois scored in the first minute of his first NHL game. Goalie John Gibson made 31 saves.
Arizona opened with a 3-0 loss to the Dallas Stars on Thursday. Goalie Antti Raanta made 22 saves, but the Stars bunched all three goals in a 96-second span of the second period.
The Coyotes were 0-10-1 in their first 11 games last season and didn't get their first win in regulation until Nov. 16. The Coyotes are 3-18-1 in October the past three seasons.

Players to watch

Rakell had four goals, seven points and a plus-7 rating in four games against Arizona last season.
Raanta had the second-best goals-against average (2.24) and save percentage (.930) in the NHL last season, when he played an NHL career-high 47 games. He is 2-2-1 with a 1.79 GAA against Anaheim.

They said it

"I'm really happy to get this (his first NHL goal) out of the way. It's great for my confidence. Of course, it got me going. It's always nice to score, and to get the first NHL goal out of the way is an amazing feeling." -- Ducks forward Max Comtois
"If you look at home openers, the road teams are winning most of the games. You want to put a show on at home. You want to use the crowd to your advantage, but not get over juiced for the game."-- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Ducks projected lineup

Rickard Rakell -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Troy Terry
Max Comtois -- Adam Henrique -- Jakob Silfverberg
Andrew Cogliano -- Sam Steel -- Pontus Aberg
Ben Street -- Carter Rowney -- Kiefer Sherwood
Cam Fowler -- Josh Manson
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Montour
Marcus Pettersson -- Luke Schenn
John Gibson
Ryan Miller
Scratched:Andrej Sustr, Isac Lundestrom, Brian Gibbons
Injured:Corey Perry (knee), Ryan Kesler (hip), Patrick Eaves (shoulder), Ondrej Kase (concussion)

Coyotes projected lineup

Richard Panik -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Clayton Keller -- Dylan Strome -- Nick Cousins
Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Christian Fischer
Lawson Crouse -- Mario Kempe -- Brendan Perlini
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Kevin Connauton -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Alex Goligoski -- Jordan Oesterle
Antti Raanta
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: Barrett Hayton, Ilya Lyubushkin
Injured:Alex Galchenyuk (lower body), Christian Dvorak (lower body), Jakob Chychrun (knee), Josh Archibald (lower body)

Status report

The Ducks' four injured players did not travel to the game. ... The Coyotes have not offered a projection of when Galchenyuk could be in the lineup.

Stat pack

The Coyotes are 14-5-2 in home openers since moving to Arizona in 1996. … Gibson is 4-1 in six games against Arizona. … Getzlaf has a team-high 64 points in 65 games against the Coyotes (19 goals, 45 assists).