Preview: Coyotes vs. Ducks

GAME 2:
Coyotes (0-1-0) vs Ducks (1-0-0)
Arizona, which was blanked 3-0 by Dallas in its season opener, will play its first home game of the 2018-19 campaign when it hosts Anaheim in Glendale on Saturday night.

WHERE: Gila River Arena | WHEN: 6 p.m. (AZ time) | TV:

| RADIO:ESPN 620 AM

ABOUT THE 'YOTES:
• The Coyotes are 14-5-0-2 in home openers since moving from Winnipeg to Arizona in 1996, and 3-1-1 in their past five.
• This game is the first of five Arizona will play vs. Anaheim this season, and the first of three to be played at Gila River Arena. The Ducks will return on March 5 and March 14.
• Antti Raanta will start in goal, seeking his first win of the season. Raanta stopped 22 of 25 shots vs. Dallas in the season opener. Raanta will be debuting a special "Kachina Saturday" mask in this game, one that salutes longtime Coyotes captain Shane Doan.
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Raanta's Mask Honors Doan
• Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson played a team-high 25:48 in the season opener and is expected to lead the team in ice time this season. He's also expected to set franchise records for points and goals by a defenseman. He enters tonight's game second in those categories behind Keith Yandle, who notched 311 points, and Teppo Numminen, who scored 108 goals. Ekman-Larsson has produced 290 points and 102 goals.
• Derek Stepan led the Coyotes in point production at home last season with 33 (seven goals, 26 assists) in 41 games.
• Ilya Lyubushkin will make his NHL debut and skate in the second defensive pairing with Alex Goligoski. Lyubushkin, 24, came to North America this summer after playing the past five seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League.
"I play hard and I like to hit," Lyubushkin said before training camp. "I want to play in the NHL. All guys who play hockey want to play in the NHL. This is my dream, too. I'm happy to be here now."

• The Coyotes will again skate minus four players on the injured-reserve list: forwards Alex Galchenyuk, Christian Dvorak, Josh Archibald and defenseman Jakob Chychrun. Archibald is considered day-to-day; the others are considered week-to-week.
• Jeremy Roenick, who played 454 games for the Coyotes during his NHL career, will drop the ceremonial first puck.

ABOUT THE DUCKS:
• Anaheim beat San Jose, 5-2, in its season opener despite being out-shot 33-15 ... John Gibson, who made 31 saves vs. the Sharks, is expected to be back in goal. Gibson is 4-1-0 vs. Arizona in six games played ... The Ducks lead the NHL in power-play percentage (66.7) after going 2 for 3 vs. the Sharks ... Captain Ryan Getzlaf leads active Anaheim skaters in career scoring vs. Arizona with 64 points (19 goals, 45 assists) in 65 career games ... Known for being a veteran-laden team, rookies
Max Comtois
,
Kiefer Sherwood
and
Sam Steel
all made their NHL debuts in the season opener ... Former Coyotes defenseman Luke Schenn delivered a team-high five hits vs. San Jose ... Forward Corey Perry underwent right knee surgery on Sept. 26 and is expected to miss five months.

'YOTES QUOTES:
• "We had a really good meeting (on Friday), probably the most engaged I've seen the players all year. I thought it was a great meeting, and I thought it was a really good practice ... I'm hoping that everybody will bounce back (from loss to Dallas). There might be a different tweak on some of the lines, but I don't want to blow up the lines just because we didn't score a goal." -- Rick Tocchet
• "Everybody is excited with what is going on today before the game. I feel if we can get a good jump on the game we can take advantage of that. But I think we want to play simple. The biggest thing for us is to try to stay calm. The first couple of shifts are the hardest. You don't want to go too hard, but you still want to set the tone for the game." -- Antti Raanta
• "Getting that first win will really help the confidence in our group. Once you get one that starts the ball rolling, and we want to do that in front of our fans in our first home game of the season. We want to send a message right away that this will be a tough building for other teams to play in all season." -- Nick Cousins