The Arizona Coyotes open a six-game road trip Sunday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are starting a stretch when they play five of their next six games at home.

But there is a twist: The Coyotes are a better team on the road (12-10-1) than at home (9-12-3) and the Maple Leafs are better on the road (16-6-1) than at home (13-10-1).

The Scotiabank Arena has not been necessarily been home sweet home for the Maple Leafs, particularly not recently. They have lost five of their past six games at home, including 4-0 losses to the New York Islanders and the Nashville Predators.

Arizona and Toronto both lost Friday night, with the Coyotes at least gleaning a point at home in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"We scratched and clawed," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "I liked our first (period), I liked our third. They've got star players over there, and we had a chance to win. Whether it was a point or not, I liked our effort."

The Maple Leafs, after beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Thursday, ended a two-game Florida swing with a disappointing 3-1 loss to the Panthers.

"I thought they were better than us at the start, it appeared like it took us a while to get our legs going," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We got ourselves behind 2-1. Then I thought they did a real nice job and we didn't execute at a high enough level to make it hard on (goaltender Roberto) Luongo at all."

The Coyotes' push for a playoff spot is being hampered by injuries.

Brad Richardson (hand) is listed as week-to-week. Out indefinitely are Antti Raanta (knee), Michael Grabner (eye) and Christian Dvorak (torn pectoral). Jason Demers (knee) and Nick Schmaltz (knee) are out for the season.

"Honestly, we started two weeks ago just being a day-by-day team," Tocchet said. "Listen, every day you walk in and something bad is happening to the team. This guy is out, that guy. ... If we talked about it and we thought about it so much, we'd start to cry every day. We talk about the day-by-day. We can't think big picture."

In the loss to the Penguins, the Coyotes tied the game with 5:26 remaining in the third period on Derek Stepan's first goal since Dec. 22.

"To come back and tie it in the third and get a point, it's huge right now," said Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who stopped 32 shots Friday. "We know how tight the standings are. We're hungry, and we're playing like it."

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, have some players in scoring droughts. Auston Matthews has 20 goals this season, but only one in the past 12 games. William Nylander has one goal and two assists in 19 games.

"I think the whole key is just work," Babcock said. "You talk about scoring, they've had lots of different linemates and lots of different opportunity. You just go to work, make simple plays and you play good without the puck when it's not going in. You work hard and, the next thing you know, you find one and you get some momentum for yourself."

Nylander was demoted to the fourth line during the game Friday.

"I've never had a slump like this in my life," he said. "I'm just trying to find a way to work through it. I've just got to work harder and harder."

Matthews said he just needs a few breaks to go his way.

"(I'm) not getting the bounces. The puck is just laying there on the goal line and doesn't go over," he said. "It's getting goals called back, hitting posts. No excuses, I'm a guy that wants to score and do everything I can to put the puck in, but sometimes it doesn't go in."

--Field Level Media