Avalanche at Coyotes
The Phoenix Coyotes attempt to extend their point streak to six games Saturday, when they host the Colorado Avalanche. Phoenix has gone 3-0-2 following a six-game winless stretch that included three consecutive shutout losses. The Coyotes look to conclude their three-game homestand without a blemish as they defeated the Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings by a combined 7-3 score.
Colorado is coming off a 3-2 overtime loss to Detroit at home on Friday. The setback dropped the Avalanche to 1-6-1 in their last eight games and kept them in the league's basement with 29 points, one behind both the Calgary Flames and Florida Panthers. Phoenix was victorious in the first of three meetings between the teams, posting a 3-2 overtime victory in Colorado on Feb. 11.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FSN Plus Arizona (Phoenix)
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (12-20-5): PA Parenteau is proving the past two seasons were not flukes. The right wing, who signed with the Avalanche as a free agent last summer, has collected 37 points in 37 games. The 30-year-old appeared in just 27 NHL contests with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers from 2006-10 before having a breakthrough season with the New York Islanders in 2010-11, recording 20 goals and 53 points in 81 games. He followed that with a 67-point campaign before landing in Colorado.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (16-15-6): Phoenix held an optional practice Friday after posting an impressive 4-2 victory over Detroit the night before. Most of the players did not participate, and several did not even make it to the rink as they attempted to recover from the flu bug that has run rampant through the locker room. Jason LaBarbera was a late scratch Thursday due to the illness, and defenseman David Schlemko was overcome by it midway through the first period. Fellow blue-liners Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also have been infected. Mike Smith, who has been sidelined since suffering a head injury on March 21, could return Saturday.
OVERTIME
1. The Avalanche have won only two of the last 11 overall games in the all-time series - and one of the last eight contests in Phoenix.
2. Coyotes D Zbynek Michalek (broken foot) may return to the lineup next week.
3. Phoenix enters Saturday four points behind eighth-place St. Louis in the Western Conference.
PREDICTION: Avalanche 2, Coyotes 1