{coyotes} RED WINGS (30-12-9) AT COYOTES (19-26-7)

Friday, 6 February 2015

{coyotes} RED WINGS (30-12-9) AT COYOTES (19-26-7)

Saturday, February 7, 2015

8:00 PM ET

RED WINGS (30-12-9) AT COYOTES (19-26-7)

TV: FS-D, FS-A

Season series: Forward Mikkel Boedker had a goal and two assists and center Antoine Vermette scored twice and had an assist to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a two-game sweep of the Detroit Red Wings last season, 4-2 at Detroit on Oct. 10, 2013, and 5-2 in Glendale, Ariz., nine days later.

Red Wings team scope: Detroit's top-ranked power play came up big in a 3-0 victory at the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. Forward Justin Abdelkader scored a man-advantage goal in the second period to break a scoreless tie, and the Red Wings helped goalie Petr Mrazek turn the lead into his first shutout of the season. Detroit has 47 power-play goals in 182 opportunities (25.8 percent) and hasn't shown any signs of slowing. After a six-game winless skid in December, the Red Wings are 13-4-0 in their past 17 games and have scored a power-play goal in 11 of those games, connecting on 34.5 percent of their opportunities. Coach Mike Babcock plans to use the same lineup, which means Mrazek will start and rookie defenseman Alexey Marchenko will play his second straight game after being recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Jan. 30.

Coyotes team scope: Arizona is without injured forwards Boedker (upper body), Martin Hanzal (upper body) and Joe Vitale (upper body), who was placed on injured reserve Thursday prior to the Coyotes' 2-1 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Alexandre Bolduc, 29, was recalled from Portland of the AHL to take Vitale's spot and centered forwards Martin Erat and Sam Gagner against Carolina. Bolduc won five of six faceoffs, put one shot on net and was credited with nine hits in 11:43, but coach Dave Tippett would like to see more from him. Tippett is also playing rookies up front because of the injury situation, including Lucas Lessio and Brendan Shinnimin. They played on the fourth line with B.J. Crombeen against the Hurricanes, and Tippett was pleased with the trio's effort.