Minnesota @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 14, 2019 ) Arizona 2, Minnesota 3

Taylor Hall plays in front of the Arizona faithful for the first time when the Coyotes welcome the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Hall, the 2018 Hart Trophy winner who was acquired from New Jersey on Monday, has already paid dividends by assisting on the winning goal with 2:37 left in Tuesday's 3-2 victory at San Jose in his club debut.

"We got him because of that last goal,'' Arizona coach Rick Tocchet told reporters. "He muscled his way through, and that's a big-time play for us. He had maybe four hours of sleep, travels cross country, and he hasn't played in about a week. Not bad for that situation. If he plays like that for not having much sleep, imagine what he can do with some real rest." Hall was in the starting lineup and skated on a line with Phil Kessel along with center Christian Dvorak, and boasts 26 points (20 assists) overall this season. Minnesota won the first two meetings this season - 4-3 at Arizona on Nov. 9 and 3-2 on Nov. 14 - with Kevin Fiala scoring in each contest and goaltender Devan Dubnyk winning both games. Dubnyk has been away from the team for more than a month attending to his wife and her medical situation, but joined the club on the road trip that started with a 5-3 loss to Chicago and served as the backup in Tuesday's 3-2 setback to Vegas.

TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, FS North, FS Wisconsin (Minnesota), FS Arizona, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet 360

ABOUT THE WILD (16-14-5): Minnesota was without defenseman Jared Spurgeon (upper body) on Tuesday, along with forwards Jason Zucker (lower body), Joel Eriksson Ek (upper body) and Mikko Koivu (lower body). "I look around the league and see teams that lost 200 man games, 150 man games, we're not going to cry, 'Oh, woe is me' because we've got a couple of guys hurt,'' coach Bruce Boudreau told reporters. "If you can't win with a couple of guys hurt, you don't deserve to win." Center Eric Staal (1,001 career points) has four goals and two assists during a four-game point streak.

ABOUT THE COYOTES (20-12-4): Dvorak (21 points) and Kessel (19) didn't record a point Tuesday but figure to eventually benefit from playing with Hall. Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller have 24 points apiece with Keller recording three goals and five assists in eight December games. Darcy Kuemper (15-7-2) is one of two players who boast a sub-2.00 goals-against average at 1.97 (Pittsburgh's Tristan Jarry is at 1.85), and boasts a .935 save percentage.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona is 6-2-1 versus the Central Division while Minnesota is 6-3-1 against the Pacific.

2. The Coyotes and their opponents are each 1-for-10 on the power play over the last three games while the Wild are 2-for-24 with the man advantage in the past eight contests, scoring in each of the last two games.

3. Arizona F Vinnie Hinostroza (15 points) has five of his 11 assists in the last three games.

PREDICTION: Coyotes 3, Wild 2