Coyotes at Oilers
The Arizona Coyotes look to build off their most complete effort of the season when they finish a three-game road trip against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday. Martin Hanzal recorded a hat trick and Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves in Arizona’s 5-0 victory at Vancouver on Friday and the Coyotes have beaten Edmonton in six of the last seven games, scoring a season-high seven times in the last win on Oct. 15. The Oilers began a five-game homestand with a 4-3 overtime loss against Ottawa on Thursday.
Arizona center Sam Gagner registered two assists Friday and will return for the first time to the place where he played the opening seven seasons of his career. Edmonton owns a Western Conference-low 14 points, but is showing improvement after suffering through a 4-15-2 start a season ago. Leading scorer Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has posted a goal and four assists with a plus-2 rating in his last three contests for the Oilers.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, SNET-West (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (7-9-1): Dubnyk has played well as a backup, gaining at least a point in all four starts and giving coach Dave Tippett an option with Mike Smith off the a slow start (.889 save percentage). Defenseman Keith Yandle leads the Coyotes in points with 14 and captain Shane Doan boasts 12, including his fifth and sixth goals in his last two outings. Mikkel Boedker recorded five goals in the first three games of the season, but has scored once since posting a hat trick against the Oilers.
ABOUT THE OILERS (6-9-2): Edmonton will try to get off to a better start after falling behind 3-0 in the first period of its last two contests before rallying in both, including a 3-2 loss to Nashville on Tuesday. Former first-overall pick Nail Yakupov is starting to show signs of breaking out after earning more playing time, putting up three points in his last five games. Leading goal scorer Taylor Hall (knee) has begun skating with the team after missing the last six games and is closing in on a return to the lineup.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona Ds Oliver Ekman-Larsson (26:08) and Yandle (25:28) are both in the top 11 of the league in average ice time.
2. Edmonton has killed 19-of-21 power plays over the last nine games, but has converted only 2-of-31 opportunities with the man advantage since Oct. 24.
3. The Coyotes stood second in the league in faceoff percentage (53.2) through Friday’s contests.