Arizona @ Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 16, 2018 ) Arizona 0, Carolina 3

The Carolina Hurricanes hold a precarious spot above the playoff line as they host the Arizona Coyotes on Friday. Carolina improved to 3-2-0 on its season-high seven-game homestand with a 5-4 victory over Philadelphia on Tuesday that was labeled "sloppy" by coach Rod Brind'Amour, who added: "Not that we were bad tonight, but we need to be better for sure."

Hurricanes defenseman Dougie Hamilton is second in the NHL with a plus-28 rating and his overtime goal Tuesday gave him 39 points this season, matching his total from a year ago and moving him to within 11 of his career high set with Calgary in 2016-17. Arizona had its four-game winning streak snapped with a 4-0 loss at Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Coyotes, who are among five teams jockeying for Pacific Division supremacy, are staying afloat despite an unstable situation in goal with No. 1 Darcy Kuemper out since Dec. 19 because of a lower-body injury. Third-stringer Adin Hill stopped 30 shots Thursday so if No. 2 Antti Raanta, who missed the last two-plus games (lower body), cannot return Friday, coach Rick Tocchet could give Ivan Prosvetov his first NHL start.

TIME: 7:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Arizona Plus, FS Carolinas

ABOUT THE COYOTES (25-17-4): Phil Kessel, who is third on the club with 27 points but leads in power-play goals (six) and points (13), was a minus-2 on Thursday and is a team-worst minus-18 this season. Nick Schmaltz (club-high 35 points) hasn't hit the scoresheet in two games after recording five points in the previous four contests. Prosvetov, the 114th overall pick in the 2018 draft, was 11-3-0 with a 2.38 goals-against average and .931 save percentage with AHL Tucson this season.

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (25-16-2): Lucas Wallmark scored against Philadelphia and has five of his nine goals and five of his 11 assists in the last 10 games after needing 33 contests to record his first 10 points this season. Warren Foegele scored his ninth goal Tuesday and is one shy of matching his career high set during his rookie campaign of 2018-19. Sebastian Aho (team-high 23 goals) had two assists versus Philadelphia, giving him 39 points - two shy of team leaders Andrei Svechnikov and Teuvo Teravainen.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona has killed 29-of-31 penalties over its last 12 games and boasted the fourth-best unit in the league entering Thursday.

2. Carolina was one of four teams entering Thursday that had top 10 power-play and penalty-killing units in the league (Boston, Edmonton, Tampa Bay).

3. The clubs have split the last six meetings covering the last three season series with the home team winning the last four encounters.

PREDICTION: Hurricanes 3, Coyotes 2