Arizona @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 29, 2019 ) Dallas 4, Arizona 2

The Dallas Stars begin their longest homestand in over two months on Wednesday when they open a three-game stretch against the Arizona Coyotes. Dallas recorded a pair of one-goal victories to begin its road trip before extending its point streak to five games (4-0-1) with a 4-3 overtime setback to Ottawa on Sunday.

"There's no bad points in this league," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said. "We knew going into this month that seven of our first nine were on the road. We haven't lost one in regulation (on the road) so we'll take it, but you know me, we're never satisfied. We just want to keep pushing for those points." Tyler Seguin has done that on an individual basis, extending his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists) with two assists against the Senators. While Dallas has thrust itself into contention for the Central Division title, Arizona sits two points back in the top-heavy Pacific as it embarks on a brief road trip that consists of back-to-back games against Dallas (Wednesday) and St. Louis (Thursday). "These are two teams who are heavily favored to go far, both similar in the way they play, both stingy defensively," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "Great goalies, stingy defense, they've got some defensemen that are mobile. ... We have to play our style against those two teams."

TIME: 8:30 p.m. ET. TV: FS Arizona, FS Arizona-Plus, FS Southwest

ABOUT THE COYOTES (30-24-8): Conor Garland became Arizona's first 20-goal scorer since Clayton Keller (23 in 2017-18) when he tallied from in close at 3:53 of the third period in Monday's 2-1 win over the New York Islanders. "I mean I think it's just, ya know, it's just, it's just another goal," the 23-year-old Garland said when asked if that tally carried any extra weight in his eyes. "I just want to play well and I thought our line did a pretty good job (Monday) and it's good that we got rewarded, we had two good games here so it's just good to get rewarded as a line." Garland collected a goal and an assist as Arizona outshot Dallas 22-5 in the first period on Dec. 29 before the Coyotes yielded four goals in the third in a 4-2 setback.

ABOUT THE STARS (34-19-6): Joe Pavelski has overcome sputtering performances in both December and January to record a seven-game point streak (five goals, four assists) to begin February. Captain Jamie Benn, who has four goals and seven points this month, resides one tally shy of 300 for his career. The 30-year-old collected a goal and an assist in the previous encounter with Arizona to boost his career point total to 30 (14 goals, 16 assists) in 37 meetings with the club.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona owns a 1-9-1 in its last 11 games overall versus the Stars and 0-9-3 in the last 12 contests in Dallas.

2. Stars G Ben Bishop sports a 7-1-2 record with two shutouts in 11 career meetings with the Coyotes.

3. Arizona G Antti Raanta has permitted 11 goals on 185 shots in his last six starts (4-2-0).

PREDICTION: Stars 3, Coyotes 2