Braden Holtby gets the start in Arizona as Stars close out back-to-back

Stars (9-7-2, 20 points) vs. Coyotes (4-14-2, 10 points)

The Stars have been tearing it up at home, going on a five-game winning streak at American Airlines and outscoring the Flyers, Red Wings, Blues, Oilers and Avalanche 21-7. That's a great resume, but there are a couple of flaws. The past two road games for Dallas have been a 7-2 loss at Minnesota and a 6-3 loss at Vancouver.
It's left a bit of a bad taste in the mouth for the team, so traveling to Arizona for a road game Saturday is a bit of a test.
"Yeah, it is. It will be, and [Arizona] hasn't played since Wednesday, so we know that," Stars head coach Rick Bowness said when asked if the back-to-back road game will be a challenge. "We have to start winning some games on the road. We are 3-5-1 and we have to do better than that on the road. That's a challenge, but that's okay."

The Stars have been playing at a very leisurely pace compared to last season. They've had two-day breaks before six of their past eight games, and this is their first back-to-back since the first week of the season.
Mix in travel, and it'll be a bit different for the players to prepare.
"Definitely," said winger Jason Robertson. "It's going to feel good going there after winning today. What we need to do is get on a roll on the road. We've had this home stretch and really did well, but a great team can do it both home and away, and that's what we want to be."

What to watch

Braden Holtby will be back in net.
The 32-year-old goalie is 2-4-1 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .919 save percentage so far this season. He tweaked a lower-body injury a couple of weeks back and has been resting for five games. He returned as a backup Friday against Colorado and played 7:22 when Oettinger had to go into concussion protocol in the second period.
Holtby stopped all four shots he faced before Oettinger returned to play the third period, and that was reassuring for Bowness, who will go back to his veteran against the Coyotes.
Bowness was asked if he liked what he saw from Holtby on Friday and said: "I did. He was really good. That's a tough thing to do, too, because it's so unexpected, so, yeah, he did a great job."
Oettinger went down in a collision at the net and was pulled out of the game by the concussion spotters. He said it was the right call.
"I'm feeling great," Oettinger said after the 3-1 win. "Obviously, took a hit there, and it's just part of the protocol. If they think you took a hard hit [they'll] pull you out. The NHL cares about the players and their health, and I think it's important that we have that in place. Obviously, you never want to come out of a game, but you gotta do what you gotta do. [Holtby] came in and shut the door, and I got cleared and went back in."
Bowness said he too likes the fact the league can pull a player out of a game.
"They have spotters in the crowd, and if they think someone got their head knocked, they're going to pull them, and that's the exact right call," Bowness said. "I agree with that 100 percent. If they think there's a player in trouble out there who is knocked down and might not be 100 percent, pull them because the player isn't going to pull themselves.

Lineup updates

The Stars will be playing on the second night of a back-to-back.
"We'll need all four lines going, we'll need all six D going," Bowness said. Holtby is rested and ready to go."
Expected lines vs. Coyotes (Andrej Sekera could draw in for Joel Hanley):
Robertson-Hintz-Pavelski
Raffl-Benn-Gurianov
Peterson-Faksa-Radulov
Kiviranta-Seguin-Glendening
Suter-Klingberg
Lindell-Heiskanen
Sekera-Hakanpaa
Holtby
Oettinger

Numbers

1-4-2

The Coyotes are 1-4-2 when scoring first. The Stars are 8-2-1 when scoring first.

25.6

The Coyotes rank last in the NHL in shots on goal at 25.6 per game. They rank 26th in shots against a 33.2. They've outshot an opponent twice this season and have lost both of those games.

28.3 percent

Dallas ranks third in the NHL in power-play success at 28.3 percent. Arizona ranks 31st on the penalty kill at 67.7 percent.

He said it

"No chance. Maybe tonight I was, but there's always a new, hot player that's coming into the building that he wants a stick from, or something like that." -- Stars forward Joe Pavelski on whether he's his son Nate's favorite player, especially after sitting on the bench for a postgame interview with him after dad scored his 400th career regular-season goal Friday
Catch the Stars on their upcoming three-game homestand as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. Get your tickets now!
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mike Heikais a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on Twitter @MikeHeika.