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Stars at Coyotes preview

Dallas seeks point in seventh straight game; Arizona looks to end losing streak

by Alan Robinson / NHL.com Correspondent

STARS (28-21-5) at COYOTES (23-26-5)

4 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-SW, NHL.TV

 

The Game

The Dallas Stars will try to extend their point streak to seven games, and the Arizona Coyotes will look to stop a season-long five-game losing streak when they play at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

The Stars, 5-0-1 in the past six games, and Coyotes, 0-4-1 in the past five, play for the second time in six days. The Stars won 5-4 at American Airlines Center on Monday and are 2-0-0 against the Coyotes this season and 9-0-0 since March 24, 2016.

Dallas' five-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 overtime loss at the Nashville Predators on Thursday. Anton Khudobin, who made 21 saves, will start Saturday in place of No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop, who has an undisclosed injury.

Arizona's losing streak is its longest since seven straight (0-6-1) Dec. 3-19, 2017.

 

Players to watch

Stars forward Tyler Seguin scored the decisive goal in the third period against Arizona on Monday. He has six points (four goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak.

Coyotes forward Conor Garland has three goals in his past five games, nine goals in his past 14, and 11 goals in 20 games since scoring his first NHL goal Dec. 22.

 

They said it

"We've become a tougher team mentally and it shows. Physically, I think we can impose our will, and I think we've done that a lot in this last little while." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

"A lot of teams in the [Western Conference] are fighting for a (Stanley Cup) Playoff spot, so there's a lot of teams playing with some urgency, and we're one of them. We need to get some wins here." -- Coyotes forward Conor Garland

 

Stars projected lineup

Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov

Jamie Benn -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau

Andrew Cogliano -- Jason Dickinson -- Jason Spezza

Denis Gurianov -- Roope Hintz -- Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg

Miro Heiskanen -- Roman Polak

Jamie Oleksiak -- Taylor Fedun

Anton Khudobin

Landon Bow

Scratched: Julius Honka, Connor Carrick, Valeri Nichushkin

Injured: Ben Bishop (undisclosed), Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Tyler Pitlick (upper body)

 

Coyotes projected lineup

Richard Panik -- Derek Stepan -- Vinnie Hinostroza 

Clayton Keller -- Nick Cousins -- Christian Fischer

Alex Galchenyuk -- Jordan Weal -- Conor Garland

Lawson Crouse -- Mario Kempe -- Josh Archibald

Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Niklas Hjalmarsson

Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski

Kevin Connauton -- Jordan Oesterle

Darcy Kuemper

Calvin Pickard

Scratched: Michael Bunting, Ilya Lyubushkin

Injured: Kyle Capobianco (lower body), Jason Demers (lower body), Nick Schmaltz (lower body), Christian Dvorak (upper body), Michael Grabner (upper body), Brad Richardson (upper body), Antti Raanta (lower body)

 

Status report

Bishop is on the injured reserve list but practiced Friday and could return against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. … Capobianco will miss the rest of the season. He was injured Thursday during his third NHL game. … Chychrun (lower body) missed the past four games and will be a game-time decision. … Grabner went through a full practice Friday for the first time since being injured Dec. 1.

 

Stat pack

Dallas has allowed two goals or fewer in eight of its past 11 games. … Benn has one goal in his past nine games. … Radulov has gone 11 games without a goal. … Faksa has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past three games. … The Coyotes are 0-for-15 on the power play in their past four games. … Hinostroza has five goals in his past seven games.

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