Arizona @ Vancouver preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 26, 2019 ) Arizona 4, Vancouver 2

The Arizona Coyotes will look to extend their lead atop a crowded Pacific Division Thursday when they visit the Vancouver Canucks - one of four teams within three points of the division leader. The Coyotes have lost four of their last five games away from home, but still own the second-most road victories in the NHL (14), while the Canucks have won six straight contests on home ice.

Former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall has registered six goals and seven assists in 14 games since being acquired by Arizona on Dec. 16 and spearheaded a 6-3 victory over San Jose on Tuesday with his first multi-goal outing with the club. “(Hall) hates to lose, you can tell,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet told the media. “He’s starting to fit in. He knows the system. He’s asking a lot of questions lately. You can just tell that he’s finding his groove." The Canucks should be pleased with their effort in the final game of a five-game road trip as they outshot the Jets 41-25 on Tuesday but came up short in a 4-0 setback. “Five games in eight days and we play a game like that. I’m pretty happy with the group,” Canucks coach Travis Green told reporters after his team finished their trip with a 2-3-0 record. “As we get closer to the end of the year, you’re going to play some games where you don’t like the result. But, if we play well, we’re going to get the results more often than not.”

TIME: 10 p.m. ET. TV: FS Arizona Plus, Sportsnet Pacific

ABOUT THE COYOTES (26-18-5): Second-year forward Conor Garland scored his team-leading 16th goal and added two assists against the Sharks while center Derek Stepan registered three helpers to help the Coyotes hit the six-goal mark in a game for just the second time this season. Phil Kessel potted his 10th and 11th goals of the campaign Tuesday - his third multi-goal effort of the season – becoming the seventh different Arizona player to reach the 10-goal plateau. Goaltender Adin Hill made 25 saves in the win Tuesday but is expected to hand the crease over for Thursday’s contest to Antti Raanta, who has a 1.81 goals against average and .946 save percentage over his last four starts (3-1-0).

ABOUT THE CANUCKS (25-18-4): Vancouver owns the league’s sixth-best power play success rate (23.6 percent), but couldn’t capitalize on four chances against the Jets and is 1-for-24 on the man advantage in its last six games. Elias Pettersson had found the scoresheet in four straight games before being shut out Tuesday but the 21-year-old still owns a team-best 21 goals and 48 points. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom has been a workhorse in Vancouver’s net as the Swede has started 15 of the last 17 games where’s he’s compiled a 2.85 goals against average, .915 save percentage and 9-6-0 record.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona is 20-4-1 when scoring first this season.

2. Canucks D Quinn Hughes leads all NHL rookies with 28 assists and 17 power play points.

3. Coyotes D Niklas Hjalmarsson blocked three shots Tuesday and became the 21st player in NHL history to register 1,500 for his career.

PREDICTION: Canucks 4, Arizona 3