Coyotes at Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets go after their seventh straight victory in the series when they host the struggling Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night to complete a three-game homestand. The Blue Jackets rolled to a 6-3 victory over Philadelphia on Thursday before registering 38 shots in a 4-1 loss to Chicago two nights later to start their run at Nationwide Arena.
“I thought we played a really good hockey game, by far our best of the year,” Columbus coach John Tortorella told reporters after the setback. “I just hated us losing patience the last five minutes. We just need to stay with it.” The Blue Jackets, who expect to have All-Star defenseman Seth Jones back from a knee injury, outscored the Coyotes 3-1 combined in a pair of victories last season and will face an Arizona team coming off its best two offensive games of the season this time around. The Coyotes earned a 4-1 victory at Chicago on Thursday for their second win of the campaign - a mark that took them eight more games to achieve in 2017-18 - and recorded 45 shots while battling powerful Winnipeg to the end in a 5-3 loss on Saturday. “It’s good to see some go in,” Arizona center Clayton Keller told reporters after producing three goals in the last two games. “We played hard (Saturday). We were right there. We learned a lot about our team.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, FS Ohio (Columbus)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (2-5-0): Promising forward Christian Dvorak underwent surgery on a torn pectoral muscle - an injury that occured while he was rehabbing a different ailment - and will be out indefinitely, opening up opportunities for others. One of those that is earning more playing time with Dvorak and Alex Galchenyuk (groin) out is Dylan Strome, who has a goal and 16 shots (five against Winnipeg) in the first seven games. Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (four assists) and center Derek Stepan (one assist, team-high 24 shots) are seeking their first goal of the season.
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (4-3-0): Jones, who registered career highs of 16 goals and 57 points last season, will wear a brace on his right knee for his 2018-19 debut after sitting out the first seven contests. Right wing Cam Atkinson had two goals in the win over Philadelphia, but was a minus-4 despite four shots on net in the loss to Chicago, and leads the Blue Jackets with 28 shots. Left wing Artemi Panarin tops the team with nine points and fellow forward Josh Anderson shares the lead with Atkinson at four goals while leading Columbus with a plus-5 rating.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona D Alex Goligoski has yet to record a point and owns a minus-7 rating in the first seven contests.
2. Columbus G Sergei Bobrovsky is 6-1-1 with a .937 save percentage and 2.02 goals-against average versus Arizona.
3. The Coyotes have converted just two of 19 opportunities with the man advantage and the Blue Jackets are 4-for-29 on the power play.