Coyotes at Penguins preview

COYOTES (7-6-1) at PENGUINS (6-5-3)
7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-A, PLUS, NHL.TV

DeSmith will play and Matt Murray will dress as his backup for a second straight game. DeSmith made 20 saves on 22 shots in a 2-1 loss at the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Murray is 4-4-1, including 1-4-0 at home, with a 3.87 goals-against average and .886 save percentage this season.
The five straight losses (0-4-1) represent the longest losing streak for the Penguins since they lost five in a row from Dec. 11-19, 2015, which included their first four games under coach Mike Sullivan. A six-game slide would be the longest for the Penguins since they lost seven straight (0-5-2) from Jan. 26-Feb. 8, 2006.
The Coyotes will try to bounce back from losing a home-and-home set (0-1-1) to the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday and Thursday after winning five in a row. Darcy Kuemper, who will start for Arizona, allowed nine goals on 64 shots in those two games.

Players to watch

Coyotes forward Clayton Keller has six points (two goals, four assists) on a six-game point streak.
Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin has been held without a point in his past three games after having 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) during a nine-game point streak.

They said it

"This is going to be a tough game for us. We have to realize that there are some great players who have won Stanley Cups [in Pittsburgh]." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"By no means do we discount [Murray's] contributions here. We know Matt's got to be a huge part of this team moving forward." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Coyotes projected lineup

Lawson Crouse -- Alex Galchenyuk -- Clayton Keller
Nick Cousins -- Derek Stepan -- Christian Fischer
Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Josh Archibald -- Dylan Strome -- Brendan Perlini
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Niklas Hjalmarsson -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Kevin Connauton -- Jordan Oesterle
Darcy Kuemper
Hunter Miska
Scratched: Dakota Mermis, Richard Panik
Injured: Jakob Chychrun (lower body), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Antti Raanta (lower body), Alex Goligoski (lower body)

Penguins projected lineup

Dominik Simon -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel -- Riley Sheahan -- Phil Kessel
Garrett Wilson -- Matt Cullen -- Zach Aston-Reese
Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin -- Chad Ruhwedel
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Casey DeSmith
Matt Murray
Scratched: Jamie Oleksiak, Daniel Sprong
Injured: Justin Schultz (left leg fracture), Derick Brassard (lower body)

Status report

Lyubushkin will replace Goligoski and skate with Hjalmarsson. ... Brassard (lower body) will miss his seventh straight game.

Stat pack

Keller will play his 100th NHL game. He has 78 points (28 goals, 50 assists) in his first 99. ... Letang is one assist from passing
Syl Apps Jr.
for sixth place on the Penguins' all-time list with 350.