Coyotes at Red Wings preview

Raanta moves back into the starter's role until Darcy Kuemper returns. Kuemper, third in the NHL with a 2.17 goals-against average, sustained a lower-body injury in an 8-5 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Friday. 

The Coyotes are 4-4-0 in their past eight games, alternating wins and losses. They are in a three-way tie for first place in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights.

Goalie Jimmy Howard returns to the Red Wings lineup. He missed 10 games with a lower-body injury sustained in a 6-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 27. Detroit lost starting goalie Jonathan Bernier to a lower-body injury in a 4-1 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Forward Anthony Mantha (upper body) was placed on injured reserve.

Detroit has lost three straight and 15 of 17 (2-13-2).

Players to watch

Coyotes forward Taylor Hall has an assist in each of his first two games with the Coyotes. Hall was acquired in a trade with the New Jersey Devils for draft picks and prospects Monday.

Red Wings rookie forward Filip Zadina has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past nine games.

They said it

"It's not like [Raanta] has been playing a lot and is overworked. I think there's some juice, some desire and we're going to let that juice go. We've got the break coming up, so I'm not worried about him going back to back." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on planning to start Antti Raanta in Arizona's two games before the holiday break

"It's a learning process for this group, and it's been hard. I liked the fact we came out with some emotion and passion and played hard. Now we have to make sure we come out on Sunday with some emotion and passion and play hard." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill after Detroit' loss to Toronto on Saturday

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Phil Kessel

Clayton Keller -- Carl Soderberg -- Nick Schmaltz

Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza

Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Conor Garland

Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Ilya Lyubushkin

Jordan Gross -- Jordan Oesterle

Antti Raanta

Adin Hill

Scratched: Aaron Ness, Christian Fischer

Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (leg), Jason Demers (lower body), Darcy Kuemper (lower body)

Red Wings projected lineup

Tyler Bertuzzi -- Dylan Larkin -- Filip Zadina

Robby Fabbri -- Valtteri Filppula -- Andreas Athanasiou

Darren Helm -- Luke Glendening -- Adam Erne

Christoffer Ehn -- Frans Nielsen -- Brendan Perlini

Patrik Nemeth -- Mike Green

Trevor Daley -- Filip Hronek

Brian Lashoff -- Madison Bowey

Jonathan Bernier

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: Alex Biega, Justin Abdelkader

Injured: Danny DeKeyser (back), Jonathan Bernier (lower body), Anthony Mantha (upper body), Jonathan Ericsson (face)

Status report

Gross will be making his NHL debut for Arizona. … Tocchet said Demers is skating with the team and could play later this week.

Stat pack

Howard was 0-6-1 with a .854 save percentage in his last seven starts before his injury.