Stars at Coyotes
After playing their last six road games against their fellow Central Division representatives, the Dallas Stars will test their mettle versus a foe from the Pacific on Thursday as they visit the Arizona Coyotes. Dallas won the first five of those contests before dropping a 2-1 overtime decision to St. Louis on Tuesday to fall to 7-1-1 in its last nine.
Rookie forward Mattias Janmark scored in overtime in a 3-2 victory over Nashville on Monday before netting his third goal in as many games to force the extra session the following night versus the Blues. While Dallas is wrapping up a three-game road trip, Arizona breezed to its second victory in three contests following a five-game losing skid (0-4-1). Martin Hanzal, who has three goals in his last four contests, joined defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson with a tally and two assists in Monday's 6-2 rout of struggling Montreal. "We were talking before the game about going hard to the net and making it hard on the goalie,"Hanzal told NHL.com. "We got the first couple of goals with hard work. These are games we have to have now."
TV: 9 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (Dallas), FSN Arizona
ABOUT THE STARS (37-15-6): After suffering a hard-luck setback against St. Louis, Kari Lehtonen looks to return to his winning ways when he faces Arizona - against which he was in net for all three victories last season to improve to 12-3-4 in his career versus the club. Defenseman Alex Goligoski set up a goal against the Blues and had two assists in his last encounter versus the Coyotes for his first career points against the team in 21 meetings. Tyler Seguin has enjoyed a scintillating stretch since the All-Star break, collecting five goals and as many assists in seven outings before being held off the scoresheet against St. Louis.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (26-24-6): Arizona's goaltending carousel took another turn on Wednesday as the team recalled Niklas Treutle from Springfield of the American Hockey League. The move was necessitated after Anders Lindback suffered an injury to his Achilles tendon prior to Monday's contest. The 24-year-old Treutle has yet to make his NHL debut, but likely will back up Louis Domingue as the latter is expected to make his 19th start in 21 games.
OVERTIME
1. Dallas has won five of the last six meetings with Arizona.
2. The Coyotes are 9-for-27 on the power play over the last six contests.
3. Dallas sent LW Curtis McKenzie to Texas of the American Hockey League on Wednesday.