The reigning Stanley Cup Champion, Vegas Golden Knights, will travel to Tempe, Arizona to face the Arizona Coyotes at the Mullett Arena with the puck scheduled to drop at 10:00 PM ET on Friday night.

The Vegas Golden Knights have not locked up a playoff spot yet, however, they are in prime position to make the playoffs for the 2^nd consecutive season after winning the Stanley Cup last season. Vegas has been one of the hottest teams over their last seven games winning six of their previous seven matchups and enter this game on a three-game winning streak following a 6-3 win at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. 

The Golden Knights have been among the best teams defensively this season and enter this game allowing an average of 2.92 goals per game which ranks 11^th in the NHL. This will be the 3^rd and final time Vegas will play Arizona with the teams splitting the first two games this season the road team winning the previous two meetings and the Golden Knights winning the most recent contest by a score of 3-2 on the road. 

The Vegas Golden Knights will look to win the regular season series against the Arizona Coyotes for the 4^th consecutive season when they travel to face the Coyotes in Game 3 of the series this season.

The Arizona Coyotes have been one of the worst teams over the previous few seasons and have missed the playoffs for the last 12 seasons with their last appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs coming in the 2011-12 NHL season in which they won the Pacific Division. 

Arizona made some improvements this season after finishing with the worst record in the Western Conference last season, the Coyotes enter this game with a record of 31-39-5 and 67 points which gives them the 4^th worst record in the Western Conference but will not finish worse than that as they have a 13 games lead over the Anaheim Ducks who have the 3^rd worst record in the Division. 

However, Arizona continues to be a below-average team offensively and defensively this season as they rank 20^th in scoring and are allowing the 8^th most goals per game with an average of 3.03 goals per game while allowing an average of 3.33 goals per game. Arizona also enters this game on a two-game losing streak following a 1-2 loss at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. 

The Arizona Coyotes will look to win the regular season series against the Vegas Golden Knights for the first time in four years when they host the Golden Knights on Friday night.

WagerWeb has the Vegas Golden Knights listed as -163 moneyline favorites on the road against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night. Vegas has won the regular season series against Arizona in each of the previous four seasons with the winner of the game on Friday night winning the regular season series this season. The Golden Knights have won three of the previous five games on the road in the series including a 3-2 win on the road earlier this season against the Coyotes.

Vegas is still looking to secure a playoff spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and only needs to likely win two to three more games this season to secure a spot, however, they are unlikely to win the Pacific Division this season as they travel the Vancouver Canucks by ten points with only seven games left in the regular season. 

The road team has won the previous two meetings this season with the Golden Knights winning the most recent contest 3-2 and has won the regular season series in each of the previous four years. As a result, I am taking the moneyline for the Vegas Golden Knights when they travel to face the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.