Preview: Coyotes at Stars

GAME 52:
Coyotes (23-23-5) at Stars (27-21-4)
Arizona will play the middle game of a three-game trip vs. Western Conference playoff contenders when it skates at Dallas on Monday night.

WHERE: American Airlines Center | WHEN: 6:30 p.m. (AZ time) | TV:FOX Sports Arizona Plus | RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

ABOUT THE 'YOTES:
• Arizona will enter the game with 51 points, three behind Vancouver, which holds the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference standings with 31 games to play.
"The guys' antennas are up," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said. "They know where we're at, how many games are left. They know how important the games are, who's ahead of you, who's behind you."

• The Coyotes, who will host the Stars on Saturday afternoon, will be looking to avenge a 3-0 loss at Dallas on Opening Night.
• Darcy Kuemper, who has helped the Coyotes secure at least one point in nine consecutive starts, will start in goal. Only five other goalies have earned at least one point in 10 straight starts in Coyotes/Jets franchise history. Kuemper, who has earned more victories (seven) vs. the Stars than any other NHL team, stopped all 28 shots he faced the last time he played at Dallas, for Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2018.
"When he's on his game he's quiet in the net and he's not busy," Tocchet said. "I'm a big fan of when goalies aren't busy, especially big goalies, and he's really swallowing pucks and not allowing as many rebounds as he did a month ago."

• Clayton Keller, who leads the Coyotes with 35 points, skated 23:08 and took a season-high seven shots on goal vs. San Jose on Saturday in his first game since appearing at the NHL All-Star Game.
• Conor Garland will look to extend his latest goal-scoring streak to three games. With 10 goals, Garland ranks sixth among NHL rookies, despite having played just 24 games. The five freshmen who have scored more goals than Garland all have skated at least 40 games.

• Jordan Weal won 18 of 29 face-offs in the past five games and has captured 56.7 percent of his draws since the Coyotes acquired him via trade with Philadelphia on Jan. 11.
• Ilya Lyubushkin is leading all NHL rookies with 121 hits in 31 games. That's nearly four per game.
ABOUT THE STARS:
• Dallas ranks sixth in the Western Conference with 58 points and will enter tonight's game riding a four-game winning streak in which it has outscored opponents 11-4 ... The Stars have won eight straight games (8-0-0) against Arizona, the club's longest active winning streak against any NHL opponent ... Ben Bishop ranks second in the NHL, among goalies who have started at least 25 games, in goals-against average (2.25) and third in save percentage (.925) ... Tyler Seguin leads the Stars with 21 goals and has scored four goals during the four-game winning streak. He's taken 205 shots, third most in the NHL ... Miro Heiskanen leads NHL rookie defensemen with nine goals and ranks second with 21 points ... Jason Spezza is averaging a point per game vs. the Coyotes with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 20 games.

'YOTES QUOTES:
• "It's wide open. Everybody's winning and losing a little bit, so all we can do is to keep pushing like we have been the last 10, 15 games. I like the way that we are battling and competing out there. That's why we've been successful. Obviously we've had a lot of injuries, too. We don't really know when we're going to get those players back so it's important that we focus on what we can do as a group with the group that we have. All we can do is to give 100 percent every night and that will give us a good chance to hang around the games and get points." -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson
• "I just think we're playing to our identity. We're playing really, really simple and we're being really good defensively and we're frustrating teams. When we get in on the forecheck and use our speed, I think that's when we're effective. If we can establish that early tonight against Dallas, and then Nashville (on Tuesday), we should set ourselves up." -- Nick Cousins
• "If we keep our heads down and keep working hard, and playing the way we've been playing and sticking to the details that we have, I think in nine weeks, if we do that, we're going to be right there and we're going to give ourselves a really good chance of being in the playoffs." -- Jordan Weal