Minnesota hosts Arizona after Eriksson Ek's 2-goal game

Arizona Coyotes (22-50-7, eighth in the Central) vs. Minnesota Wild (51-21-7, second in the Central)

St. Paul, Minnesota; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDT

BOTTOM LINE: The Arizona Coyotes visit Minnesota after Joel Eriksson Ek scored two goals in the Wild's 5-4 overtime victory against the Predators.

The Wild are 12-9-3 against division opponents. Minnesota is the top team in the Western Conference with 6.3 assists per game, led by Joseph Cramarossa averaging 1.0.

The Coyotes are 7-12-4 against Central teams. Arizona averages 10.3 penalty minutes per game, the third-most in the Western Conference. Liam O'Brien leads the team serving 106 total minutes.

Minnesota defeated Arizona 5-2 in the last meeting between these teams on Nov. 30.

TOP PERFORMERS: Kirill Kaprizov has 103 total points for the Wild, 45 goals and 58 assists. Kevin Fiala has 13 assists over the last 10 games for Minnesota.

Clayton Keller has 63 total points while scoring 28 goals and totaling 35 assists for the Coyotes. Nick Schmaltz has three goals and four assists over the last 10 games for Arizona.

LAST 10 GAMES: Wild: 8-0-2, averaging 4.6 goals, 7.2 assists, 3.8 penalties and 9.7 penalty minutes while giving up three goals per game with an .896 save percentage.

Coyotes: 0-8-2, averaging 1.7 goals, 3.2 assists, 3.5 penalties and 7.3 penalty minutes while giving up 5.3 goals per game with an .852 save percentage.

INJURIES: Wild: Jordan Greenway: day to day (upper-body), Matt Dumba: out (upper body), Marcus Foligno: out (covid-19), Mats Zuccarello: day to day (lower body).

Coyotes: Nick Ritchie: day to day (upper body), Jay Beagle: day to day (lower body), Christian Fischer: out (lower-body), Dysin Mayo: out (upper body), Jakob Chychrun: out (ankle), Lawson Crouse: out (hand), Andrew Ladd: day to day (lower body), Clayton Keller: out for season (lower-body).

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