Arizona Coyotes (22-44-5, eighth in the Central) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (39-29-4, fourth in the Pacific)
Paradise, Nevada; Saturday, 10 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Vegas and Arizona meet in Western Conference play.
The Golden Knights are 24-16-2 against Western Conference opponents. Vegas ranks seventh in the Western Conference averaging 3.1 goals per game, led by Jonathan Marchessault with 28.
The Coyotes are 7-12-2 against opponents from the Central. Arizona averages 10.5 penalty minutes per game, the fourth-most in the league. Liam O'Brien leads the team serving 106 total minutes.
In their last meeting on Feb. 25, Arizona won 3-1. Nick Schmaltz scored a team-high two goals for the Coyotes in the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Marchessault leads the Golden Knights with 28 goals, adding 30 assists and totaling 58 points. Evgenii Dadonov has five goals over the last 10 games for Vegas.
Schmaltz leads the Coyotes with a plus-five in 52 games this season. Phil Kessel has one goal and five assists over the last 10 games for Arizona.
LAST 10 GAMES: Golden Knights: 7-3-0, averaging 3.3 goals, 4.6 assists, 2.8 penalties and 6.8 penalty minutes while giving up 2.4 goals per game with a .924 save percentage.
Coyotes: 2-7-1, averaging 1.8 goals, 2.6 assists, 3.3 penalties and 8.8 penalty minutes while allowing 3.8 goals per game with an .892 save percentage.
INJURIES: Golden Knights: Laurent Brossoit: out (undisclosed), Nicolas Hague: out (lower body), William Carrier: out (lower body).
Coyotes: Janis Moser: out (upper-body), Christian Fischer: out (lower-body), Lawson Crouse: out (hand), Andrew Ladd: day to day (lower body), Clayton Keller: out for season (lower-body).
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The Associated Press
