Hurricanes at Coyotes
The Arizona Coyotes rebounded from a rough start to post their best October record in five seasons and look to earn a fifth straight victory when the Carolina Hurricanes pay a visit Friday night. The Coyotes managed three goals total while limping to a 1-4-0 start, but have scored 27 times to win five of the last six contests and surrendered one goal in each game during their winning streak.
“It wouldn’t be fun to be out of the playoffs like we were last year in October,” Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson told reporters after a 5-1 victory over Ottawa on Tuesday. “It means a lot for us to have a good start and feel like we have a chance to beat every team in the (league). … It means a lot for us to just have a good feeling in the room. Hopefully we can build off of that and keep winning.” The Coyotes earned a 2-1 shootout victory in Glendale, Ariz., last season against the Hurricanes, who have lost five of seven since a 4-0-1 start to the campaign. Center Sebastian Aho has set a Carolina/Hartford franchise record with at least a point in 12 straight contests to open the season, but the Hurricanes have dropped two straight one-goal encounters as they begin a four-game road trip. “We’ve got to stay positive,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters. “I’m happy with our compete, happy with a lot of things. But at the end of the day we’re here to win hockey games and we’ve got to find a way to get over the hump.”
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Carolinas, FS Arizona Plus
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (6-5-1): Aho leads the team with 17 points and can break the NHL record Friday for consecutive games with an assist to open a season, which would pass Wayne Gretzky and Ken Linseman (12 apiece). Power forward Micheal Ferland scored in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Boston and has five of his team-leading seven goals in the last seven contests while defenseman Dougie Hamilton (team-most 52 shots) scored twice in the past three games. Carolina continues to struggle on special teams, placing 25th on the power play (14.3 percent) and last in penalty killing (66.7) through Thursday.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (6-5-0): Clayton Keller boasts team highs of five goals and eight points while the addition of Alex Galchenyuk (four points, four games) has been another key to the turnaround, but coach Rick Tocchet could see the offense coming. “The guys were sticking with it and practicing like the goals would come,” Tocchet told the Arizona Republic. “You have to have that mentality in this league. We’ve got good mojo right now and we don’t want to wreck it.” Goalie Antti Raanta allowed one goal in three of his last four starts and owns a 1.99 goals-against average with a .926 save percentage.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina C Jordan Staal snapped a six-game point drought with an assist Tuesday.
2. Ekman-Larsson owns a plus-8 rating with all six of his points (one goal) in the last six contests.
3. Hurricanes G Scott Darling stopped 28 of 31 shots in his season debut Tuesday.