Coyotes at Oilers
Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan has discovered the fountain of youth recently with five goals in his last two games. The 39-year-old Doan looks to continue his white-hot stretch on Saturday as Arizona opens a three-game trek through Western Canada with a visit to the Edmonton Oilers.
"He wants to be the leader, and to see him succeed at it is really gratifying," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said after Doan's two tallies in a 4-2 victory over Winnipeg moved him past Dale Hawerchuk as the franchise's career leading goal scorer. Doan (381 career goals), who has nine of his team-leading 13 tallies in his last 10 games, also scored in Arizona's 4-1 win over Edmonton on Nov. 12. While the Coyotes are 4-1-1 in their last six to ascend into second place in the Pacific, Edmonton has dropped four in a row to plummet into the division's cellar. Cam Talbot, who is expected to start versus Arizona, responded from being pulled in his previous outing by turning aside 34-of-35 shots in a hard-luck 1-0 setback to Anaheim on Thursday.
TV: 4 p.m. ET, Sportsnet (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (18-16-3): Oliver Ekman-Larsson is no stranger to contributing on offense, but his fellow defensemen have followed suit. Michael Stone has recorded one goal and four assists on his career-high four-game point streak and fellow blue-liner Connor Murphy notched an assist on Thursday for his personal-best ninth point of the season. "That's something that we have tried to continue to get better at throughout the year," Stone told the Arizona Republic. "Getting our D-men up in the play is something that all teams are really doing now. I think it's getting to be more and more of a trend."
ABOUT THE OILERS (15-21-3): All eyes were on Connor McDavid on Friday as the top overall pick of the 2015 draft skated with his teammates for the first time since suffering a fractured clavicle versus Philadelphia on Nov. 3. "There is still a process that I have to go through," the 18-year-old McDavid said. "Today was the first step, being on the ice with the guys and I just kind of go from there. We'll see how fast that moves along." Taylor Hall, also a former No. 1 overall draft pick, is mired in a seven-game goalless drought - although he netted his team's lone goal versus Arizona earlier in the season.
OVERTIME
1. Arizona rookie LW Max Domi scored on Thursday and collected a goal and an assist in the first meeting with Edmonton.
2. Edmonton is 0-for-13 on the power play in the last seven contests.
3. Coyotes G Louie Domingue is expected to make his seventh start in eight outings, Tippett told the Arizona Republic.