Blue Jackets at Coyotes preview
Columbus tries to end five-game winless streak; Arizona 9-2-2 in past 13
by Alan Robinson / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
BLUE JACKETS (5-7-3) at COYOTES (9-4-2)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, FS-O, NHL.TV
The Game
The Columbus Blue Jackets will try to end a five-game winless streak (0-4-1) when they play the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.
The Blue Jackets have been outscored 20-9 during the skid but have won seven of eight and 10 of their past 13 games against the Coyotes, including four straight in Arizona.
The Coyotes are 9-2-2 in their past 13 games. They're coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, when they couldn't hold a 3-1 third-period lead. They have earned at least one point in five of their past six games (4-1-1).
Goalie Darcy Kuemper starts for the Coyotes. He is 7-1-0 with a 1.73 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and one shutout in his past eight starts.
Players to watch
Blue Jackets forward Boone Jenner has eight points (four goals, four assists) in 10 games against the Coyotes.
Coyotes forward Derek Stepan has 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 22 games against the Blue Jackets.
They said it
"We're trying to get some of our veteran guys going right now. We don't have a lot of them doing it. I'm trying to get them into situations to get an opportunity to go." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"We need to fix the mistakes we made (against Calgary) and move on. It's one game." -- Coyotes forward Vinnie Hinostroza
Blue Jackets projected lineup
Gustav Nyquist -- Pierre-Luc Dubois -- Oliver Bjorkstrand
Nick Foligno -- Boone Jenner -- Josh Anderson
Sonny Milano -- Alexander Wennberg -- Cam Atkinson
Alexandre Texier -- Riley Nash -- Emil Bemstrom
Zach Werenski -- Seth Jones
Vladislav Gavrikov -- David Savard
Scott Harrington -- Dean Kukan
Joonas Korpisalo
Matiss Kivlenieks
Scratched: Kole Sherwood, Adam Clendening
Injured: Markus Nutivaara (head), Brandon Dubinsky (wrist), Ryan Murray (hand)
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 -- Ilya Lyubushkin
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Aaron Ness -- Kyle Capobianco
Darcy Kuemper
Antti Raanta
Scratched: Eric Comrie
Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson (lower body), Brad Richardson (upper body), Jordan Oesterle (upper body), Jason Demers (lower body)
Status report
Nutivaara, struck in the head by a puck against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, is not on the three-game road trip. … Demers will miss his first game of the season. … Oesterle and Richardson remain day to day.
Stat pack
Dubois has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past seven games. … The Coyotes have 20 points after 15 games, compared to 15 last season and five in 2017-18.