COYOTES (2-0-0) at DUCKS (0-1-1)
TV: FS-A, PRIME, FS-SD
ANAHEIM -- Goalie Anton Khudobin will make his first start for the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday against the Arizona Coyotes.
Though Frederik Andersen has played well through two games, Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said a strong preseason was enough for Khudobin, acquired in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes on June 27, to warrant an early game.
"Anton played well and he arguably was our best goalie in the preseason," Boudreau said. "So now we're giving him the opportunity early because of how good he played in the preseason."
Andersen is 0-1-1 with a 1.45 goals-against average and .957 save percentage.
"We planned out the first three games," Boudreau said. "Freddie deserved the first game and he deserved the home opener. This was not something that we thought, 'OK, we're just going to put [Anton] in,' because Freddie has played great in two games. This was the first three games planned out, and I talked to them before game one and let them know what was going on."
The Coyotes are looking to continue their strong start. Coach Dave Tippett said their ability to roll four lines has been beneficial in keeping players fresh. Arizona has defeated the Los Angeles Kings and Pittsburgh Penguins.
"If you look at the L.A. game, going into a back-to-back with Pittsburgh, the only people that played over 20 minutes were defensemen. And that's the way we'd like to keep it," Tippett said. "We feel like, with four lines, we've got good energy and we can rely on everybody. Not just in this game tonight, we'll have good energy, but in a back-to-back situation we aren't wearing anybody out."
Arizona is deeper this season than last, and Tippett said he is happy with how he's able to play the matchups on a nightly basis.
"We feel that our matchups are everybody," he said. "We expect everybody to do their job and recognize who they're playing against. They have top players and top centermen, but our guys, we rely on everybody to do their jobs. So for us, everybody is going to be all in."
Here are the projected lineups:
COYOTES
Max Domi - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker
Tobias Rieder - Martin Hanzal - Anthony Duclair
Kyle Chipchura - Brad Richardson - Shane Doan
Jordan Martinook - Boyd Gordon - Steve Downie
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Michael Stone
Nicklas Grossman - Zbynek Michalek
Klas Dahlbeck - Stefan Elliott
Scratched: Connor Murphy, Joe Vitale, John Scott
Injured: None
DUCKS
Jiri Sekac - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Carl Hagelin - Ryan Kesler - Jakob Silfverberg
Andrew Cogliano - Rickard Rakell - Mike Santorelli
Patrick Maroon - Shawn Horcoff - Chris Stewart
Hampus Lindholm - Kevin Bieksa
Scratched: Tim Jackman, Josh Manson, Chris Wagner
Injured: Nate Thompson (upper-body)
Status report: Bieksa is playing in his 600th NHL game … Boudreau said he's getting closer to putting Manson in the lineup. Manson, the son of retired NHL defenseman Dave Manson, has three points and a plus-1 rating in 28 games with the Ducks. "There's always a possibility," Boudreau said. … Michalek is expected to play for the Coyotes after missing a game because of an upper-body injury.
Who's hot: Domi has two points in two games. He's managed to catch the attention of one of his childhood heroes, drawing praise from Florida Panthers forward Jaromir Jagr. "It's pretty humbling to see a guy like that, talking about me," Domi said. "A guy I grew up watching and idolizing. It's pretty cool."
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