Coyotes at Bruins preview
Arizona hopes to end road skid; Boston seeks sixth straight win
by Matt Kalman / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
COYOTES (27-22-7) at BRUINS (33-10-12)
3 p.m. ET; NESN, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV
The Game
The Boston Bruins will look for their sixth straight win and 16th consecutive victory against the Arizona Coyotes when the teams play at TD Garden on Saturday.
The Atlantic Division-leading Bruins, who have outscored opponents 17-5 during their five-game winning streak, are 9-2-1 in their past 12 games. They haven't lost to the Coyotes since Oct. 9, 2010, in Prague.
Arizona, which is 1-4-2 in its past seven games, will look to end a five-game road losing streak and can move into a tie for second place in the Pacific Division with a win.
Players to watch
Coyotes forward Conor Garland has scored three times during a three-game goal streak and has four points (three goals, one assist) during a four-game point streak.
Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk has six points (three goals, three assists) in the past six games.
They said it
"We liked our start [Thursday in a 5-3 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes], just a couple mistakes, and against a good team those are in the back of your net. We've got a big-time road trip coming up, we definitely need to get going here and get these points." -- Coyotes forward Conor Garland on playing four road games in six days
"It's exciting to put that one behind me now and you know just looking forward to the next game. More importantly our team's playing really well, we're on a good winning streak, so keeping that going as well." -- Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who scored his first goal of the season in a 2-1 overtime win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday
Coyotes projected lineup
Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Phil Kessel
Clayton Keller -- Nick Schmaltz -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Carl Soderberg -- Brad Richardson -- Christian Fischer
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Aaron Ness -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Antti Raanta
Adin Hill
Scratched: Robbie Russo, Michael Grabner
Injured: Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Jason Demers (lower body), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (lower body)
Bruins projected lineup
Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Karson Kuhlman
Sean Kuraly -- Charlie Coyle -- Anders Bjork
Anton Blidh -- Par Lindholm -- Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- John Moore
Matt Grzelcyk -- Jeremy Lauzon
Tuukka Rask
Jaroslav Halak
Scratched: Brandon Carlo, Danton Heinen
Injured: Joakim Nordstrom (medical condition), Kevan Miller (knee), Connor Clifton (upper body)
Status report
The Coyotes did not practice Friday. … Ekman-Larsson has missed the past three games, but the defenseman traveled with the team. … Clifton, a defenseman, has started skating but will miss his 16th straight game. … Carlo is away from the Bruins for personal reasons and will not play. The defenseman is expected to play at the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.
Stat pack
Kessel will play his 831st straight game, passing Andrew Cogliano for the sixth-longest streak in NHL history. … Hall has four assists during a four-game point streak. … Soderberg is one goal from 100 in the NHL. … Pastrnak does not have a point in his past two games after he had nine (two goals, seven assists) in his previous five. ... Rask is 11-0-6 at home, tied with Gilles Gilbert (16-0 with one tie in 1973-74) for the longest such point streak by a Bruins goalie to begin a season.