Florida @ Arizona preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 7, 2020 ) Arizona 5, Florida 2

The Florida Panthers look to finish a five-game road trip with a winning record - after an active trade deadline day - when they visit the playoff-contending Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. The Panthers won the first two games on their trek to the west coast before giving up 10 total goals in losses to Los Angeles and Vegas to fall two points behind Toronto for third place in the Atlantic Division.

“We’re still in the mix, now we’ve got to control our fate,” Florida coach Joel Quenneville told reporters after a 5-3 loss at Vegas on Saturday. “Let’s turn it over into a positive heading into Arizona, finish the trip and look to be above .500.” The Panthers, who dropped a 5-2 decision against the Coyotes at home Jan. 7, shipped their second line center Vincent Trocheck to Carolina on Monday in exchange for a pair of centers in Erik Haula and Lucas Wallmark, along with a pair of minor leaguers. Arizona was quiet at the deadline Monday after pumping some life into its playoff quest with a 7-3 victory over red-hot Tampa Bay two days earlier to move into a wild card position in the Western Conference and win for the third straight time at home to end a tough stretch of the schedule (11 games, 19 days). “Number one for me is I’ve got to regain their energy,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet told the Arizona Republic. “. … Practice is a big part of our team and we haven’t had many this month. We’re a team that has to work on certain things, and offensively we’re having a tough time scoring goals.”

TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Florida, FS Arizona, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Pacific, Sportsnet Ontario

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (32-24-6): Haula, an unrestricted free agent after the season, had 12 goals and 22 points in 41 games for Carolina and Wallmark, a restricted free agent, boasts a career-high 11 goals to go along with 12 assists in 60 contests. The duo gives Florida more depth up the middle behind captain Aleksander Barkov (20 goals, 61 points) - and with veteran Brian Boyle out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Left wing Jonathan Huberdeau leads the team with 76 points and right wing Evgenii Dadonov scored his team-best 25th goal in Vegas while left wing Mike Hoffman netted three of his 24 tallies in the past four games.

ABOUT THE COYOTES (31-26-8): Forward Conor Garland scored twice Saturday to push his team-leading total to 22 goals while Clayton Keller had an assist to reach 40 points - two behind club leader Nick Schmaltz. Taylor Hall had two assists in the win over Tampa Bay and has recorded 25 points in 30 games since being acquired from New Jersey - the identical numbers the 25-year-old left wing registered with the Devils to start the season. Antti Raanta (14-14-3, .921 save percentage) has won three of four starts after making 27 saves Saturday, and is 5-3-1 in February with a .944 SP.

OVERTIME

1. Arizona G Darcy Kuemper (15-8-2, .929 save percentage), out since Dec. 19 with a lower-body injury, was recalled after a conditioning stint and could play as soon as Tuesday.

2. Florida RW Brett Connolly has 18 goals, four shy of his career high with Washington last season, but is mired in a six-game point streak.

3. The Coyotes acquired F Markus Hannikainen, who has eight goals in 91 NHL games (none this season), from Columbus for a conditional pick Monday.

PREDICTION: Coyotes 3, Panthers 2