The Arizona Coyotes return to the desert, hoping that some home-ice magic will snap them out of a five-game losing streak, but they have often come up short lately against tonight's opponent, the Minnesota Wild.
Minnesota (14-7-5) has won its last five games in Arizona. The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona Plus, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Both teams will be without their usual starting goaltender. Arizona's Mike Smith is day-to-day with a lower body injury, and Minnesota's Devyn Dubnyk, who was Smith's understudy for much of last season, was left at home in Minnesota while he recovers from a strained groin suffered last Saturday.
In addition to Smith, the Coyotes will be without center Martin Hanzal and captain Shane Doan.
The Coyotes (13-14-1) have won four in a row at Gila River Arena, but that didn't translate onto their most recent road trip -- a five-gamer that resulted in five losses. The Coyotes were outscored 24-10 on the trip.
Minnesota won 4-3 in Glendale on Oct. 15. Zach Parise had a goal and an assist to lead the Wild to a sixth consecutive overall win in the series. Parise has totaled nine goals and five assists in 13 games vs. the Coyotes.
Rpokie Max Domi had a goal and an assist in the October loss, but Arizona's leading goal scorer (10) has tallied just two in his past 12 games.
The Wild have scored just 13 goals in their last seven games but they had won three in a row before a 2-1 overtime loss in Colorado on Monday. The Wild went 178:52 without giving up a goal until Tyson Barrie got a shot past Darcy Kuemper in the second period.
Kuemper recorded one of his five career shutouts in his only game against the Coyotes, stopping 26 shots in a 2-0 victory Oct. 23, 2014.
