Preview: Coyotes at Blackhawks

[December 06, 2016]  The Arizona Coyotes attempt to send the Western Conference-leading Chicago Blackhawks to a season-high third consecutive loss and end a slide of their own when they conclude two-game, two-day road trip Tuesday. Chicago, which is one point behind Montreal for first overall in the league, has dropped two straight contests three times this season, including this past weekend as it suffered a 3-1 loss in Philadelphia on Saturday and was edged 2-1 by Winnipeg a day later at home.

The Blackhawks are 3-2-1 without captain Jonathan Toews, who is sidelined with an apparent back injury, but have scored only 11 goals in that span and a total of 12 in their last eight contests. Arizona, meanwhile, enters with a four-game winless streak (0-2-2) after suffering a 4-1 setback in Columbus on Monday that ended its five-game road point streak (2-0-3). Tobias Rieder scored the lone goal for the Coyotes - his second in three contests - to climb within one of team leader Radim Vrbata (eight), who had his five-game point streak come to an end. Arizona has scored more than two goals just once in its last seven road contests.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona Plus, CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE COYOTES (8-12-4): Captain Shane Doan will become the 93rd player in NHL history to reach the 400-goal plateau with his next tally and needs one assist to snap a tie with Thomas Steen (553) for first place on the franchise list. Brendan Perlini, the 12th overall pick in the 2014 draft, made his NHL debut on Monday and was called for a minor penalty in 13 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time. "It was pretty special," the 20-year-old native of Great Britain told reporters. "Obviously, it would have been nice to get a win, but in the same sense, it was good to get out there with the guys."

ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (16-8-3): In addition to Toews, Chicago has been without Corey Crawford for the last two games and will not get its No. 1 goaltender back for two-to-three weeks as he underwent an emergency appendectomy on Saturday. The Blackhawks were forced to sign Pennsylvania native Eric Semborski to an amateur tryout contract so he could serve as Scott Darling's backup against the Flyers and recalled Lars Johansson from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Sunday to fill that role versus the Jets. Artemi Panarin scored the lone goal for Chicago in the loss to Winnipeg, giving him 100 points in 107 career games.

OVERTIME

1. Coyotes G Mike Smith, who was rested Monday after making a franchise-record - and career-high - 58 saves two nights earlier, will start against the Blackhawks.

2. Chicago RW Marian Hossa leads the team with 12 goals but has scored only once in his last eight contests.

3. Arizona LW Anthony Duclair, who has recorded one goal in 23 games after scoring 20 as a rookie last season, was a healthy scratch versus the Blue Jackets.

PREDICTION: Blackhawks 4, Coyotes 2

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