Dec. 11, 2023 | 5 pm MST | KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY
WHERE TO WATCH:
• Antenna: 61.1 Phoenix, 9.2 Tucson
• Phoenix Cable: Cox 95
• Phoenix Satellite: DirecTV Channel 61, Dish Network Channel 61
• Bullhead City / Lake Havasu: Optimum channel 6
• Flagstaff: American Cable channel 4, Optimum Cable channel 6
• Maricopa: Orbitel channel 11
• Pinal County: Mediacom channel 13
• Prescott: Sparklight channel 61
• Sedona: Optimum Cable channel 6
• Show Low / Winslow Sparklight channel 61
• Tucson: Cox channel 85, Xfinity channel 1179, Orbitel channel 208
WHERE TO LISTEN:
• Radio: ESPN 620
• Stream: Arizona Coyotes App, NHL Mobile App
The Arizona Coyotes are set to face the Sabres in Buffalo on Monday in the first of back-to-back road games before returning home to Mullett Arena on Friday.
The Desert Dogs dropped their most recent game 5-3 in Boston on Saturday, in which Clayton Keller, Lawson Crouse, and Michael Carcone each scored. Arizona and Buffalo split the season series last year, as the Coyotes won 4-1 in Buffalo on Nov. 8, 2022 before falling 5-2 at Mullett Arena on Dec. 17, 2022.
Carcone continues to lead the team with 13 goals, and also leads the entire NHL with a 34.2 percent shooting percentage. The 27-year-old forward has four goals in his last five games, and has never faced the Sabres in his career.
Keller and Alex Kerfoot also continue to impress, as well. Keller’s 14 points on the road lead the team, and he has at least one point in six of the Coyotes’ last seven road games. Kerfoot, meanwhile, leads the league with a plus-8 rating over the last six games, compiling nine points over that span.
Lineups were not yet available prior to posting, but Karel Vejmelka may be in line for his first start since Nov. 22 against the St. Louis Blues, especially considering the team is playing in back-to-back games. He is 2-6-2 with a 3.45 goals-against average and .892 save percentage this season, while Connor Ingram, who has started seven consecutive games, is 11-5-0 with a 2.52 GAA, .920 SV% and two shutouts.
Arizona’s power play ranks seventh in the league with a 24.44 conversion rate, while its penalty kill is 14th with an 80.68 success rate.
Player to Watch: Crouse may be heating up again for the Coyotes, as he has scored in two straight games, tallying four total points over his last four contests.
ABOUT THE SABRES
Buffalo has hit a bit of a dry spell since reaching .500 on Nov. 27, going 1-4-1 in six games since, with the lone win coming over Boston on Dec. 7. The Sabres most recently dropped a 3-2 game in a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, and the game against Arizona wraps up a two-game homestand before hitting the road for three, including a matchup against the Coyotes on Saturday at Mullett Arena.
Buffalo boasts four players with 20-or-more points this season, led by Casey Mittelstadt (22), Jeff Skinner (21), Rasmus Dahlin (21), and John-Jason Peterka (20). The Sabres rank 25th in the league with 2.82 goals per game, while defensively they allow the 12th-most goals per game, at 3.32.
Buffalo has had three goalies in on the action, but Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has appeared in the most games this season, posting a 6-5-1 record with a 2.81 GAA, .907 SV% and one shutout. He did miss Saturday’s game with an illness, however, so fans may see either Devon Levi (4-4-2, 3.27 GAA, .892 SV%) or Eric Comrie (1-5-0, 4.01 GAA, .863 SV%) if Luukkonen is unable to play.
The Sabres’ power play ranks 25th in the league at 14.29 percent, and their penalty kill is 13th with an 81.11 percent success rate.
Player to Watch: Skinner his three points over his last three games, and has fared well against the Coyotes with 10 goals and six assists in 19 total games against Arizona.
