Preview: Coyotes at Wild

GAME 23:
Coyotes (9-11-2) at Wild (14-7-2)
Looking to halt a four-game losing skid, Arizona will begin a two-game road trip with a game at Minnesota on Tuesday night.

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

ABOUT THE 'YOTES:
• The Coyotes will play their first game since making a blockbuster trade that sent recent first-round draft picks Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Nick Schmaltz.
"He's got a lot of speed," Head Coach Rick Tocchet said of Schmaltz, an American forward whom Chicago drafted 20th overall in 2014. "He can make plays. I was talking to some people that know him, and he can make some plays. When you're struggling to score, you try to look for those kinds of guys. Maybe he's a game breaker, a guy that can make a play. Those are hard to find."

Schmaltz notched two goals and nine assists in 23 games with Chicago this season before Sunday's trade.
"Obviously my production's not where I want it to be," Schmaltz said. "I think in a lot of the games I've been generating a lot of offense, creating a lot of chances, getting some pretty good looks with my shot, too. Hopefully things start clicking here, and maybe this fresh start will help me get a little energy boost and pucks will start falling for me. I'll just stick with it, work hard every day. I think things will turn around."

Schmaltz will make his debut with the Coyotes vs. the Wild, playing left wing on a line with center Alex Galchenyuk and right wing Clayton Keller.
"They're three really talented players," Tocchet said. "I want to give them a chance and see what they can do. We have to make sure somebody's going to go to the net on that line though. They can't just play east to west … Whoever it is, that'll open up a lot of things, but that will be something they definitely have to think about."

• The Coyotes have posted a 2-6-2 record in the past 10 games after winning five straight matches from Oct. 23 - Nov. 2.
• Antti Raanta will start in goal after being removed from Sunday's 6-1 loss to Calgary after the Flames scored their sixth goal early in the third period. Raanta has allowed 11 goals in his two starts since returning from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for three weeks.
"When you come back and let in 11 goals in five periods it's tough," Raanta said. "The biggest thing for me right now is to just calm down, go for one save at a time and not try to be Superman in the net. I'm excited for the next game tonight and a new challenge. I feel pretty good. Every day is better and better, and I now have two games under my belt. It's much easier than when I first came back."
Goalie Adin Hill, whom Arizona recalled from the American Hockey League on Saturday, accompanied the team on the trip as backup goalie Darcy Kuemper nurses a minor lower-body injury. Hill will be Raanta's backup vs. the Wild.
• Derek Stepan, Brad Richardson and Keller are co-leading the Coyotes with six goals apiece. Oliver Ekman-Larsson ranks first on the team with 10 assists.
• Arizona, which continues to lead the NHL in penalty-killing success at 90.3 percent, has allowed just two power-play goals in 10 road games this season.
• Niklas Hjalmarsson is leading the Coyotes with 42 blocked shots. The 12-year veteran has blocked 1,313 shots since the start of the 2009 season, which ranks sixth in the League since that time.
• The Coyotes have won 50 percent of their 1,335 face-offs this season. They captured 61 percent of the draws vs. Minnesota the first time these teams played on Oct. 16. The Wild won that game 2-1.
• Arizona added forward Mario Kempe to the mix on Monday by recalling him from its American Hockey League affiliate in Tucson. Kempe is averaging more than a point per game in the AHL this season with five goals and six assists in 10 games. He's played four games for the Coyotes this season and 22 overall.
ABOUT THE WILD:
• Minnesota has won 13 of its past 18 games (13-5-0) and ranks second in the Western Conference with 30 points ... The Wild will enter the game with a 12-game point streak vs. Arizona - the longest point streak in franchise history vs. an NHL opponent ... Minnesota last played on Friday when it scored four goals in the third period and beat Winnipeg 4-2 ... The Wild rank second amongst NHL team defensemen in goals (20) and fifth in scoring (57) ... Matt Dumba, Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund co-lead the Wild with 10 goals each ... Dumba is riding a career-high six-game point streak (five goals, four assists). He's just one game shy of tying the franchise record for longest point streak by a defenseman set by Ryan Suter in 2012-13 ... Goalie Devan Dubnyk is 9-5-2 with a 2.48 goals-against average and .921 save percentage ... The Wild's penalty-killing unit succeeds 85.2 percent of the time. Only Arizona (90.3) and San Jose (89.2) are better.

'YOTES QUOTES:
• "We have to regroup here and especially not feel sorry for ourselves. That's the last thing you can do in this league. You just have to work harder, that's it, just work had and support each other and come to the rink with a positive attitude even though it's tough when you lose a lot of games. I think that's something we have to focus on going forward." -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
• "We need some of our high-level guys to play. They've got to be able to play. They're on the power play, and getting opportunities to go on the power play, and we need some kind of juice there. I'm not saying we have to score, but we have to get some momentum." -- Rick Tocchet
• "Sounds like everyone's excited (about the trade), and the organization's headed in the right direction, so hopefully I can help the team out as much as I can right away, whether it's offensively or playing a two-way game and being hard to play against." -- Nick Schmaltz