Arizona Coyotes seek to establish consistency versus the Ottawa Senators

The Arizona Coyotes will officially hit the midway point of the season after they play their 41st game of the campaign. They hope it will be a victory against the visiting Ottawa Senators.

Matchup at a Glance

View from Ottawa

Tonight's Opposition

Ottawa Senators

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The Senators' season has been an incredibly difficult one. Paul MacLean, their head coach, was dismissed in early December and replaced with Dave Cameron. Ottawa is 5-5-3 since dismissing MacLean, and their statistics are pretty consistent in the bottom half of the NHL.

Of course there are more than a few potent players on the lineup that could pose a problem for Arizona. Erik Karlsson remains one of the most potent offensive defensemen in the league, and the top line of Clarke MacArthur, Kyle Turris, and Bobby Ryan has combined for 75 points this season, and Craig Anderson has a .926 save percentage in 26 starts.

View from Arizona

If you can figure out the Arizona Coyotes, there's a job waiting for you in the front office.

After getting blown out 6-0 by the St. Louis Blues, Arizona stormed back for a 4-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. The Coyotes scored three power play goals, while the penalty kill that conceded three goals against the Blues was a perfect 7 for 7 (including two extended 5 on 3 situations) against the Jets.

As good as Karlsson is, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle have been the engines of the Coyotes' offense and its power play, especially this season. Ekman-Larsson scored his 11th goal of the season against Winnipeg, most among all NHL defensemen. Former Senator Antoine Vermette has also been potent; he recorded an assist in the Jets game and surpassed Yandle for the team's leader in points.

Keys to the Game

• Keep What Worked - Arizona's power play absolutely torched Winnipeg by moving the puck quickly and leading opposing defenders out of the center. It worked well. Do it again.
• Ditch What Didn't - The Coyotes took seven penalties, including several really unnecessary ones. Though it didn't hurt them in the last game, they shouldn't count on that happening again.
• Take Advantage of Speed - Mikkel Boedker's second goal Thursday night was created almost entirely by virtue of his speed crashing the net. There are plenty of fast players on the team who really need to utilize that talent.

Who's Hot

Both Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone have two goals and an assist in their last five games. Secondary scoring has been tremendously hard to come by up in Ottawa.

Mikkel Boedker scored two goals and an assist Thursday night, while Shane Doan got a tally and two helpers of his own.

Injury Report

On IR for Ottawa are Mark Borowiecki (leg laceration) and Zack Smith (dislocated wrist). Chris Neil (knee) is listed as questionable for tonight's game.

For Arizona, both Zbynek Michalek and Martin Hanzal (upper body injuries) are considered questionable.

Puck Drop

A slightly different start time tonight. Puck drops at 5 p.m. Arizona time. The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona and heard on ESPN 620 AM.