Blackhawks at Coyotes preview

BLACKHAWKS (24-21-6) at COYOTES (26-21-6)
8 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NBCSCH, NHL.TV

The defenseman, who sustained a lower-body injury midway through the second period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, participated in the morning skate Saturday.
The Coyotes, who will try to end a four-game winless streak (0-3-1), are 1-5-2 in their past eight games.
Arizona, which has defeated Chicago twice this season, will try to sweep a season series against the Blackhawks for the first time in Coyotes/original Winnipeg Jets history.
Patrick Kane can extend his point streak to 12 games for Chicago; the forward has 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in an 11-game stretch and 47 points (16 goals, 31 assists) in 40 games against Arizona.
The Blackhawks look to win for the sixth time in seven games (5-1-0) and 12th time in 17 games (11-5-0), playing for the first time since a 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers on Jan. 21.

Players to watch

Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in his past seven games and needs one point for 800 in the NHL.
Coyotes forward Taylor Hall has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past six games and 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in 23 games against Chicago in his NHL career.

They said it

"The schedule here at the end is going to be intense. Once you get to this point of the season, you're close to the end and the games are so big, it gets easier to prepare yourself." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"We've got to win a hockey game. You put that mindset in. What's it going to take to play a good game and win a hockey game? That's basically it, you simplify your game." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Blackhawks projected lineup

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Drake Caggiula
Brandon Saad -- Kirby Dach -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- David Kampf -- Dylan Strome
Alex Nylander -- Ryan Carpenter -- Zack Smith
Duncan Keith -- Adam Boqvist
Erik Gustafsson -- Connor Murphy
Olli Maatta -- Slater Koekkoek
Corey Crawford
Robin Lehner
Scratched: Matthew Highmore, Dennis Gilbert
Injured: Calvin de Haan (right shoulder), Brent Seabrook (right shoulder/left and right hip), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol)

Coyotes projected lineup

Taylor Hall -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Clayton Keller -- Derek Stepan -- Phil Kessel
Lawson Crouse -- Nick Schmaltz -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Michael Grabner -- Brad Richardson -- Carl Soderberg
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Alex Goligoski -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Jordan Oesterle
Antti Raanta
Adin Hill
Scratched: Christian Fischer, Ilya Lyubushkin, Kyle Capobianco
Injured: Darcy Kuemper (lower body), Barrett Hayton (upper body)

Status report

Strome (ankle) will return after missed seven games. … Richardson (lower body) and Demers (lower body) will each be a game-time decision, Tocchet said. Each took part in the morning skate. … Goalie Kuemper, out since Dec. 19, is getting closer to returning.

Stat pack

Kubalik has 14 points (10 goals, four assists) in his past 10 games. … Garland, who will play in his 100th NHL game, has seven points (two goals, five assists) in his past six games.