Coyotes at Blackhawks preview

COYOTES (34-29-5) at BLACKHAWKS (29-30-9)
8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-A, NHL.TV

The Coyotes, who are one point behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference, have won two straight games and eight of their past nine.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper is expected to start for Arizona, which is 11-3-0 in its past 14 games and has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of them.
Chicago, which is seven points behind the Wild for the second wild card, has won two straight after going 1-4-0 in its previous five games and has allowed at least four goals in eight of its past 10.

Players to watch

Coyotes goalie Darcy Kuemper is 9-1-0 with a 1.59 goals-against average, .949 save percentage and two shutouts in his past 10 games.
Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has 47 points (18 goals, 29 assists) in his past 26 games and has points in 30 of his past 34 games.

They said it

"We just have to stay structured and play the way we've been playing the last eight or 10 games. I think we've been playing really well defensively, and we're definitely going to have to do that (Monday) if we're going to have a chance to win."-- Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson who played with the Blackhawks from 2007-17.
"I think any competitor, you want to play in these type of games. It's easy to prepare, because you don't have to worry about that feeling, that energy that you get. You get butterflies, you know you're ready then." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton

Coyotes projected lineup

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

Blackhawks projected lineup

Brandon Saad -- Jonathan Toews --
Dylan Sikura
Alex DeBrincat -- Dylan Strome -- Brendan Perlini
Dominik Kahun -- Artem Anisimov -- Patrick Kane
Chris Kunitz -- David Kampf -- Marcus Kruger
Duncan Keith -- Brent Seabrook
Slater Koekkoek -- Erik Gustafsson
Gustav Forsling -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Collin Delia
Scratched:John Hayden, Carl Dahlstrom
Injured:Cam Ward (knee), Drake Caggiula (concussion)

Status report

Ward, who hasn't played since March 3, could return to the lineup this week according to Colliton.

Stat pack

Hinostroza does not have a point in his past three games after having five points (one goal, four assists) in his previous two. … Dvorak and Keller each have three points in their past two games. … Toews has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games. … DeBrincat has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in his past 10 games.