Maple Leafs at Coyotes preview

MAPLE LEAFS (22-14-1) at COYOTES (9-25-5)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A, SNO, NHL.TV

Matthews was born in California but grew up in nearby Scottsdale, Arizona. It will be his second NHL game against the Coyotes in Arizona.
Toronto is 2-1-0 in its past three games, but 2-4-0 in its past six games after a three-game winning streak.
The Coyotes will try to win for the second straight night; they won 3-1 at the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner has six points (two goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak. He has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in his past eight games.
Coyotes forward Derek Stepan has three goals in his past four games. He leads the Coyotes with 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 17 home games.

They said it

"With his skill set comes a burden in some ways I guess, but on the other side it's pretty special too. I think a lot of people would like to be Auston Matthews." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock on Auston Matthews dealing with Toronto's spotlight
"I really wanted him to go down to Tucson and learn to hold onto pucks. When he was here he was a little antsy with the puck. He was throwing pucks away." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet on forward Lawson Crouse, who was recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and scored in a 3-1 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center on Wednesday

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Leo Komarov
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Mitchell Marner
Matt Martin -- Dominic Moore - Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman -- Roman Polak
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched:Josh Leivo, Martin Marincin
Injured: Nikita Soshnikov](https://www.nhl.com/player/nikita-soshnikov-8478373?season=20172018) (lower body), Nikita Zaitsev (lower body)

Coyotes projected lineup

Brendan Perlini -- Derek Stepan -- Tobias Rieder
Clayton Keller -- Max Domi -- Christian Fischer
Lawson Crouse -- Christian Dvorak -- Josh Archibald
Jordan Martinook -- Nick Cousins -- Anthony Duclair
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Jason Demers
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Kevin Connauton -- Luke Schenn
Scott Wedgewood
Antti Raanta
Scratched:Andrew Campbell, Mario Kempe](https://www.nhl.com/player/mario-kempe-8474131?season=20172018)
Injured: Niklas Hjalmarsson](https://www.nhl.com/player/niklas-hjalmarsson-8471769?season=20172018) (upper body), Brad Richardson (upper body)
Suspended: Zac Rinaldo](https://www.nhl.com/player/zac-rinaldo-8474736?season=20172018)

Status report

The Maple Leafs loaned forward Kasperi Kapanen to Toronto of the AHL on Tuesday. ... Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said Richardson's injury is not serious, but is more than day to day. Richardson was injured during a 6-2 loss against the Colorado Avalanche at Gila River Arena on Saturday. Kempe was recalled from Tucson of the AHL on Thursday

Stat pack

Bozak has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past three games. … Andersen is 4-2-0 with 12 goals allowed in his past six games. … Keller has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak. It's his second point streak of at least six games, after a seven-game streak Oct. 19-31. He is the second rookie this season with multiple point streaks of at least six games; forward Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders is the other.