Preview: Coyotes at Oilers

GAME 60:
Coyotes (26-28-5) at Oilers (24-29-5)
Arizona will play the middle game of a three-game trip vs. western Canadian teams when it skates in Edmonton on Tuesday night.

WHERE:Rogers Place | WHEN: 7 p.m. (AZ time) | TV:FOX Sports Arizona | RADIO:AZ Sports 98.7 FM

ABOUT THE 'YOTES:
• Arizona will enter the game with 57 points, three behind Minnesota, which holds the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference standings, with 23 games to play.
• Darcy Kuemper will start in goal after watching Calvin Pickard tend net in Calgary on Monday afternoon. Kuemper last played on Saturday when he stopped all 22 shots he faced in a 2-0 win vs. Toronto. Kuemper has won three of his past four starts and stopped 96 of 100 shots in those games. Against the Oilers, Kuemper is 6-1-2 with a 1.99 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage in nine career outings.

• Oliver Ekman-Larsson has produced more goals (10) and assists (16) vs. Edmonton than he has against any other NHL team in his career.
• Conor Garland has scored 12 goals, including one vs. Calgary on Monday, since scoring his first NHL goal on Dec. 22. That's more than any other NHL rookie has scored since that date. For the season, Garland ranks sixth among NHL freshmen, who are led by Vancouver's Elias Pettersson (26).
• Jordan Oesterle, who began his NHL career with Edmonton in 2014-15, has notched seven of his 20 points this season over the past eight games.
• The Coyotes are 29-7-6 in their past 42 games against the Oilers, including a 3-2 win at Rogers Place on Jan. 12.
ABOUT THE OILERS:
• Edmonton has lost four games in a row and is 1-8-2 in its past 11 games ... The Oilers have been outscored, 16-6, during their losing streak ... Connor McDavid leads Edmonton in points (83) and assists (52) ... Leon Draisaitl, who has scored one goal in three straight games, ranks first on the team with a career-high 35 goals ... Goalie Mikko Koskinen is 0-7-1 in his past eight appearances, and hasn't won a game since Jan. 16 ... Darnell Nurse is having his best offensive season with seven goals and 28 points ... The Oilers are 3-0 in games that have reached a shootout this season, and have scored five goals on nine shootout attempts.

'YOTES QUOTES:
• "It's a big game for us, at this point probably the biggest game we've had all year ... It would be nice to get the lead tonight and make them play from behind, so definitely the start is big. We had that early game yesterday so we should be well rested and ready to have a big start." -- Brad Richardson
• "They're obviously a high-end team with the personnel to score a lot of goals, so we've got to be diligent in our defending and stay disciplined. That power-play unit is running pretty good right now, as you would expect with the personnel that they have. It's going to be another tough team and we've got to play desperate. We need these points more than ever right now." -- Christian Fischer
• "It's a good challenge to play against one of the best players in the League (Connor McDavid). I mean, you can't defend him with five guys, but at the same time you've got to help each other out when he's on the ice and you have to be aware of him because he can win games on his own. He's a big part of that team, so we're going to have to keep an extra eye on him, for sure." -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson