Pre-Game Capsule: Coyotes at Hurricanes

GAME 74:
Coyotes (25-37-11) at Hurricanes (31-31-11)
Arizona will look to extend a modest winning streak to three games when it plays at Carolina on Thursday night.

WHERE: PNC Arena
WHEN: 4 p.m. (AZ time)
TV: FOX Sports Arizona
RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

KEY FACTS:
• The Coyotes have posted a 13-5-2 record in their past 20 games, including a 4-1-1 mark in their past six road games.
• Arizona, which beat Buffalo, 4-1, on Wednesday night, is 2-7-1 in the second game of back-to-back games this season.
• Darcy Kuemper will make his first start in goal since March 15 when he stopped 26 of 29 shots in a 3-2 loss to Nashville. Kuemper is 2-3-1 in six games since coming to the Coyotes via a trade with Los Angeles last month.
• Clayton Keller will enter the game with a six-game point streak. Keller leads Arizona with 55 points and 20 goals. He needs to score two more to tie Peter Mueller for most goals (22) in a season by a Coyotes rookie.

• Derek Stepan leads Arizona with 36 assists, the most helpers by a Coyotes forward since Ray Whitney produced 53 in 2011-12.
• Oliver Ekman-Larsson has chipped in nine points in March, including five goals, which is tied for the most goals by an NHL defenseman this month.
• Luke Schenn, who leads Arizona with 177 hits, is expected to play in his 700th NHL game.
• Carolina is 4-6-0 in its past 10 games and sits nine points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with nine games to play. The Hurricanes, who rank first in the NHL in face-off win percentage (53.9), have won six of their past eight games (6-1-1) against the Coyotes dating to Dec. 14, 2013. Both Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen have produced at least one point in six straight games. Jeff Skinner has generated at least one shot in 93 consecutive games, marking the second-longest active streak in the League behind Calgary's Dougie Hamilton (156). Cam Ward likely will start in goal. He's 19-13-4, but has lost his past four starts and allowed 15 goals in those games.

COYOTE BITES:
• "This is one of the best stretches we've had in about five or six years here. We've put a lot of work into things to get them kind of straightened away and turned around. I think where we're at now is to just continue to build on that ... The core of the group and our leadership group has done a nice job of getting things going here ... It's a real positive for the organization and I think it shows a bright future is ahead." -- John Chayka on team's 13-5-2 record in past 20 games
• "They're playing a hard and simple game. They have fast players that can score so we have to be good defensively, and I think we're going to be good." -- Richard Panik on playing Hurricanes
• "You're never going to feel great in (every game) of an 82-game schedule, but you have to rely on your concepts and your details of your game and your focus. Your legs might not be there, but if you stay within the structure and you stay with your details you can get through games and you can win games that way. That's the biggest thing for me is the details of your game. The last couple games, I love that we won and we're finding ways to win, but I thought that a little bit of our details were slipping, and we've got to make sure we get it back, especially when you're playing back to back." -- Rick Tocchet