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Martin Hanzal suits up for Coyotes tonight

Shane Doan, Martin Hanzal

Phoenix Coyotes’ Shane Doan (19) celebrates his game-winning goal against the Calgary Flames with teammate Martin Hanzal, of the Czech Republic, during overtime in an NHL hockey game Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, in Glendale, Ariz. The Coyotes defeated the Flames 2-1. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

AP

If the Phoenix Coyotes go into a sixth overtime of the series against the Chicago Blackhawks tonight, they’ll have the one guy not named Mikkel Boedker who has won one in OT back. Martin Hanzal collected Phoenix’s first sudden death clincher in Game 1, but he’s been unable to play since Game 2 - until now, according to Dave Vest.

That overtime winner might be many casual fans’ first memory of Hanzal, but in the grand scheme of things, he’ll be used to try to keep pucks out of Phoenix’s net instead. He’s a large center who is one of the better defensive forwards on a Coyotes team that can check you into scoring irrelevance.

Considering how close this series has been, he might just be the difference - even if his impact isn’t as noticeable as last time.

(Also, in other lineup news, Adrian Aucoin reportedly won’t be in the lineup. That would be totally worse news if shootouts existed in the playoffs, though.)