{coyotes} Coyotes' Dauphin to make NHL debut vs. Blackhawks

Tuesday 29 December 2015

{coyotes} Coyotes' Dauphin to make NHL debut vs. Blackhawks

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BLACKHAWKS (20-13-4) AT COYOTES (17-15-3)

TV: CSN-CH, FS-A

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – With centers Martin Hanzal and Boyd Gordon still out of the lineup, the Arizona Coyotes will give rookie center Laurent Dauphin a chance to make his NHL debut against the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

Dauphin, the 39th pick of the 2013 NHL Draft, had 10 points in 30 games with Springfield of the American Hockey League before being recalled Monday with forward Craig Cunningham. They will join Kyle Chipchura on the fourth line against the Blackhawks.

"We'll throw him in with Gordon and Hanzal out," Arizona coach Dave Tippett said. "He's played well and he's one of the good prospects we've had down there this year so we'll see what he can do.

"His quickness, skating, ability to read plays quickly are reasons why we made the move. Playing against the Stanley Cup champions, that's a good start for him."

Gordon will miss his second straight game after sustaining an upper-body injury in a nasty collision with Jake Muzzin of the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Tippett said Gordon could be ready to play by the weekend. He was also encouraged by the way Hanzal looked Tuesday, calling it "a positive sign." Hanzal will miss his 10th game of the season with an upper-body injury which has kept him out much of the past three weeks.

Anders Lindback will start in goal for Arizona after playing well in the 2-1 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. The Coyotes took three of four points in the past two games coming out of the Christmas break and are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games at Gila River Arena.

Looking for more offense after scoring once in losses to the Dallas Stars (4-0) and Carolina Hurricanes (2-1), Chicago coach Joel Quenneville shook up three of his four forward lines and recalled defenseman Erik Gustafsson from Rockford of the American Hockey League while placing David Rundblad on waivers.

Andrew Shaw will move back to the top line with Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa, with Teuvo Teravainen dropping to the third line. Teravainen will skate with Andres Desjardins and Phillip Danault, who were promoted to the third line with Bryan Bickell and Dennis Rasmussen now skating with Ryan Garbutt on the fourth line.

The Coyotes have three players – centers Antoine Vermette and Viktor Tikhonov and defenseman Klas Dahlbeck – who were all members of the Blackhawks within the past year.

Vermette was traded to Chicago, where he won a Stanley Cup, for Dahlbeck and the 30th overall pick in the 2015 draft which the Coyotes used to select forward Nick Merkley.

Vermette then returned to Arizona as a free agent in the offseason. Tikhonov was claimed on waivers earlier this month.

Dahlbeck has started all 36 games for Arizona on defense this year.

"He wanted an opportunity to play in the league and we've given him that," Tippett said. "He's still a young payer and there's lots of growing in his game but he's been good for us."

Here are the projected lineups:

BLACKHAWKS

Andrew Shaw - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa

Artemi Panarin - Artem Anisimov - Patrick Kane

Andrew Desjardins - Phillip Danault - Teuvo Teravainen

Bryan Bickell - Dennis Rasmussen - Ryan Garbutt

Duncan Keith - Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Niklas Hjalmarsson - Brent Seabrook

Rob Scuderi – Erik Gustafsson

Corey Crawford

Scott Darling

Injured: Marcus Kruger (left wrist)

Scratched: Michal Rozsival, David Rundblad, Brandon Mashinter

COYOTES

Max Domi - Antoine Vermette - Mikkel Boedker

Tobias Rieder - Viktor Tikhonov - Anthony Duclair

Jordan Martinook - Brad Richardson - Shane Doan

Kyle Chipchura - Laurent Dauphin – Craig Cunningham

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Connor Murphy

Klas Dahlbeck - Zbynek Michalek

Nicklas Grossman - Michael Stone

Anders Lindback

Louis Domingue

Injured: Boyd Gordon (head), Martin Hanzal (lower body), Mike Smith (abdominal surgery), Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone)

Scratched: Steve Downie, Stefan Elliott, John Scott

Status report: Tippett will continue his "Win and you're in" credo and start Lindback over Louis Domingue. Lindback has lost his past three starts against Chicago, posting a 4.69 goals-against average, all with the Buffalo Sabres.

Who's hot: Chicago has won six of the past seven games in Arizona, including playoffs. Crawford is 2-1-1 with a 2.18 GAA in his past four games against the Coyotes.

Team Stats