Coyotes at Blackhawks
The Arizona Coyotes hope to ride the momentum from a successful homestand when they hit the road for the first of two games, starting with a matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night. The Coyotes knocked off Los Angeles 4-2 on Saturday to complete a 6-1-0 stretch at Gila River Arena and have won eight of nine overall to sit one point away from the second-wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“We can’t rest,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet told reporters. “There’s 14 games and that’s a lot of games left - a ton of games. … You have to bounce back after a bad period and you have to bounce back after a bad loss. You have to stay humble after a win. Those are the things that good teams do and we’ve had those traits lately.” The Coyotes, who have not made the playoffs since 2011-12, won the first meeting this season 4-1 in Chicago on Oct. 18 and the teams meet again on March 26 in Glendale, Ariz. The Blackhawks are still entertaining hopes of a spot on the postseason as they moved within seven points of the final wild-card position - with a game in hand - after grinding out a 2-1 victory over Dallas on Saturday. “It was a big game for us,” Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton told reporters after the victory. “We needed the win. Pretty encouraging that we got the kind of effort we did. We competed hard, and I thought up and down the lineup we made a lot of team decisions.”
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Arizona, NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE COYOTES (34-29-5): Forward Christian Dvorak scored his first two goals of the season Saturday in his sixth contest after recovering from pectoral muscle surgery and told reporters,”It’s a work in progress but I feel like I’m improving every game.” Right wing Michael Grabner also scored twice Saturday in his second game back from an eye injury, including his league-leading fifth short-handed goal of the campaign. Clayton Keller registered three of his team-leading 44 points in the last two contests and captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson notched his ninth point in 10 games Saturday.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (29-30-9): Corey Crawford’s overall statistics don’t look special since returning from a concussion (.886 save percentage, four games), but his record is all that counts this time of the season (3-1-0). “It’s a process,” Crawford told reporters. “It’s a challenge. This league is fast. You just got to work hard and keep (trying) to get the timing, and then it just feels like it gets even harder after that.” Patrick Kane is second in the league with 97 points after posting three in the past two games while captain Jonathan Toews is one shy of his first 30-goal campaign since 2010-11.
OVERTIME
1. Chicago LW Brandon Saad has not posted a point in four games and owns just one in his past seven contests.
2. Arizona G Darcy Kuemper is 9-1-0 with a .949 save percentage (16 goals allowed) in his last 10 starts.
3. The Coyotes are second in the league in penalty killing percentage (85.0) and the Blackhawks are last (73.0).