Coyotes at Flames preview

COYOTES (26-27-5) at FLAMES (35-16-7)
4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNW, FS-A, NHL.TV

Smith, who is 15-11-2 with a 3.09 goals-against average and .891 save percentage, hasn't started three in a row since Oct. 25-29.
Calgary, which is tied with the San Jose Sharks for first in the Western Conference, is 2-3-2 in its past seven games after winning eight of its previous nine (8-0-1).
Arizona, which is three points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West, is 3-1-0 in its past four games after losing five straight (0-4-1).

Players to watch

Coyotes forward Alex Galchenyuk has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past four games.
Flames forward Elias Lindholm has six points (two goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak and 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in his past 19 games.

They said it

"That's where we got devastated is the center position. It's hit us hard. You can't win in this League if you don't have centermen and a lot of guys have done a nice job of banding together." -- Arizona coach Rick Tocchet
"We get to come home and play a couple home games and get back on track. We've got to get our team game going again. I think it's right there." -- Calgary forward Sean Monahan

Coyotes projected lineup

Clayton Keller -- Nick Cousins -- Alex Galchenyuk
Richard Panik -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Conor Garland -- Jordan Weal -- Christian Fischer
Lawson Crouse -- Brad Richardson -- Josh Archibald
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Jordan Oesterle -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Darcy Kuemper
Calvin Pickard
Scratched:Mario Kempe, Kevin Connauton
Injured:Kyle Capobianco (lower body), Jason Demers (lower body), Nick Schmaltz (lower body), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Michael Grabner (upper body), Antti Raanta (lower body)

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Sam Bennett
Michael Frolik -- Mark Jankowski --
Austin Czarnik
Andrew Mangiapane -- Derek Ryan -- Garnet Hathaway
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson
Mike Smith
David Rittich
Scratched:Curtis Lazar, Dalton Prout
Injured:James Neal (lower body), Michael Stone (blood clot)

Status report

Arizona assigned Dvorak, who has not played this season, to Tucson of the American Hockey League for conditioning purposes.

Stat pack

Cousins has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games. … Kuemper is 3-1-0 with a 2.00 GAA and .935 save percentage in his past four starts. … Gaudreau hasn't scored a goal in his past eight games after scoring 10 in his previous 11. … The Flames are 17-5-5 at home this season. … The Coyotes have allowed two goals or fewer in three of their past four games.