The Coyotes didn't have the ending to the eastern road trip they wanted, but 5 of 10 points at least keeps them treading water. It'll be important to get 2 tonight though as they face the Dallas Stars. The Stars haven't had the best run of late going 3-6-1 over the last ten, but they're on the rebound winning their last two against Detroit and Nashville. Kari Lehtonen has been huge in both of those wins. Detroit managed to score only once on 39 shots and Nashville 2 on 27. Dallas is only 4 points back of the Coyotes and has a game in hand on us. The more games we can make our Pacific Division foes burn in these types of matchups the better.

The Coyotes will have a bit of a different look as one of the top goal scoring forwards in Scottie Upshall is now with the Blue Jackets along with defenseman Sami Lepisto. In their place Rostislav Klesla has been added to the Blueline and should be paired with Michal Roszival at least to start. Without Ed Jovanovski the addition of Klesla really makes the defensive pairings more solid. Yandle-Morris, Klesla-Roszival and Aucoin-OEL/Schlemko is pretty decent. Hopefully that makes a difference in the goals against that have been pretty ugly lately. Mostly because the defensive coverage was just out of sync letting flukey goals have a chance early in games. That should make Ilya Bryzgalov a lot happier after a couple middling outings. 

Starting Goalies

Key Players

Kyle Turris

#91 / Center / Phoenix Coyotes

Height: 6-1

Weight: 185

Born: Aug 14, 1989

With the departure of Scottie Upshall the onus will be on the young guys and role players to pick up the offense he contributed. Mikkel Boedker is emerging, but Kyle Turris is one guy that has the ability to be an elite scorer. He needs to develop that sooner rather than later. 

Loui Eriksson

#21 / Left Wing / Dallas Stars

Height: 6-1

Weight: 189

Born: Jul 17, 1985

Scored the game winner against Nashville and has 21 goals on the season. With 58 points he's just short of a point per game this season. 

Injuries