Once Upon A Time in America Betting Show
On Saturday, the Arizona Coyotes (16-16-5, 31 points, 7th Central) are on the road, paying a visit to Amalie Arena to play against the Tampa Bay Lightning (22-11-1, 45 points, 3rd Atlantic). Arizona extended its winning streak to three straight after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Thursday night. However, Arizona is well off the pace, trailing first place in the Central division by 19 points. Tampa Bay extended its winning streak to 2 straight after defeating the New York Rangers 2-1 in the sixth round of a shootout with Alex Killorn scoring the winner. Tampa Bay is 14 points behind first place in the Atlantic division. Arizona will play without Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, Matias Maccelli, and Liam O'Brien. Tampa Bay will play without Rudolfs Balcers and Brent Seabrook, while Erik Cernak is questionable
Arizona is scoring an average of only 2.88 goals per game which is 26th in the NHL. Arizona averages the fewest shots in the league at 24.7 per game and the Coyotes are 25th on the power play, scoring 19.5% of the time with the man advantage. Lawson Crouse is the leading goal scorer for Arizona with 14 and Clayton Keller has scored 13. Keller is the leader in assists with 20 and the points leader with 33. Matias Maccelli Is second in assists with 19 but is out injured. Arizona has scored 24 goals on the power play, in 34 games.
Arizona is allowing an average of 3.56 goals per game which is 25th in the NHL. The Coyotes are allowing an average of 34.6 shots per game which is 30th. Arizona's penalty kill unit is 22nd in the NHL, successfully holding opponents scoreless 75.2% of the time the Coyotes are short-handed. Kar el Vejmelka is 11-9-4 with a 3.08 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. The Czech has two shutouts in 24 appearances between the pipes for the Coyotes.