Coyotes at Flames preview
Arizona seeks ninth win in 11 games; Rittich expected to make League-leading 14th start for Calgary
by Aaron Vickers / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
COYOTES (9-4-1) at FLAMES (8-7-2)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV
The Game
David Rittich will make his NHL-leading 14th start when the Calgary Flames host the Arizona Coyotes at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.
Rittich is 7-4-2 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .915 save percentage and two shutouts in 13 games. He made 43 saves in a 3-0 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
Antti Raanta could start for Arizona after Darcy Kuemper made 26 saves in a 3-2 overtime win at the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Raanta is 2-1-1 with a 2.96 GAA and .914 save percentage in four games.
The Coyotes have won two in a row and are 8-2-0 in their past 10 games.
The Flames are 3-2-1 in their past six games.
Players to watch
Arizona forward Phil Kessel has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past three games.
Calgary forward Elias Lindholm has nine points (five goals, four assists) in a seven-game point streak.
They said it
"We have a couple of guys banged up, but it's the world that we live in, you have to be ready to play. Calgary is a good hockey club. We have 24 hours to get energized again and go into Calgary." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"They've started with a real good start to the season. Goaltending has been really good, and that's a compliment to team defense and their structure in front of both guys and if they do break down both guys can make big saves at key times. They've played well. They've got a deep team. They've made some changes to their team that allows them to play faster." -- Flames coach Bill Peters
Coyotes projected lineup
Barrett Hayton -- Christian Dvorak -- Phil Kessel
Clayton Keller -- Nick Schmaltz -- Conor Garland
Michael Grabner -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Lawson Crouse -- Carl Soderberg -- Christian Fischer
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Aaron Ness -- Jordan Oesterle
Antti Raanta
Darcy Kuemper
Scratched: Michael Chaput, Ilya Lyubushkin
Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body), Brad Richardson (upper body)
Flames projected lineup
Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane -- Mikael Backlund -- Matthew Tkachuk
Sam Bennett -- Derek Ryan -- Alan Quine
Tobias Rieder -- Mark Jankowski -- Michael Frolik
Mark Giordano -- TJ Brodie
Noah Hanifin -- Travis Hamonic
Oliver Kylington -- Rasmus Andersson
David Rittich
Cam Talbot
Scratched: Michael Stone
Injured: Austin Czarnik (lower body)
Suspended: Milan Lucic
Status report
Arizona did not hold a morning skate. … Lucic will serve his second of a two-game suspension for roughing Blue Jackets forward Kole Sherwood on Saturday.
Stat pack
Schmaltz has assists in the past two games. … Tkachuk has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak. …Gaudreau has five assists in his past five games but doesn't have a goal in his past 12 games. …. Monahan has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past three games.