Ducks at Wild
The solid play of Adam Henrique and John Gibson are arguably the biggest reasons why the Anaheim Ducks are still afloat in the Western Conference playoff chase as they continue a four-game road trip Saturday versus the Minnesota Wild. Henrique recorded his ninth goal in the last 14 games in Thursday's 3-2 victory over Chicago while Gibson made 42 saves, improving to 2-1-1 with a 1.98 goals-against average and .939 save percentage since returning from a lower-body injury.
"You take the two points and move forward,'' Henrique told reporters. "We're going into another tough building in another huge game for us, so we can't sit on this one for long. We've got to take the positives and hopefully carry over that momentum on Saturday." Henrique, who was acquired from New Jersey on Nov. 30, counts six game-winners among his 14 goals in 34 games with Anaheim. Minnesota is 10-1-3 in its last 14 home games after Thursday's 5-2 loss to Washington and remains in strong contention for a playoff spot in the West. "Well we're not going to win every single game here," Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk told reporters Thursday after making 22 saves. "There's going to be games like that. … I don't think we expected to win the rest of the games at home. We played a pretty good game, that's all that matters. And we'll play a better game next time and get back at it."
TV: 2 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), FS North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (28-20-11): Another player largely responsible for keeping Anaheim in the race is Ondrej Kase, who recorded the second three-point game of his career with a goal and two assists Thursday, giving him 16 goals and 30 points in his second career season. Henrique centers a line flanked by Kase and Nick Ritchie, whose goal and assist gave the line three tallies and four helpers versus Chicago. The top line of Rickard Rakell (team highs of 22 goals, 46 points), captain Ryan Getzlaf (35 points), and Corey Perry (32) has produced only one assist in the last three games.
ABOUT THE WILD (31-20-6): Eric Staal (team highs of 26 goals and 52 points) has scored in the last two games and owns seven goals and eight assists in his past 12 contests. Mikael Granlund (44 points) recorded an assist versus Washington for his first point in four games after recording 16 (four goals) in his previous 13 contests. Dubnyk (23-11-4, 2.62 goals-against average, .918 save percentage) is 4-1-1, 2.32, .932 in six February starts.
OVERTIME
1. Minnesota C Mikko Koivu played his 900th game Thursday - all with the Wild - and is the franchise leader in points (644), assists (457) and games. His 187 goals are second behind Marion Gaborik (219).
2. Anaheim D Marcus Pettersson, the 38th overall pick in the 2014 draft, made his NHL debut Thursday and was a plus-2 in 13 minutes, 28 seconds of ice time.
3. Minnesota won the first of three meetings this season 3-2 in overtime Dec. 8 on D Matt Dumba's overtime goal. The final encounter occurs April 4 in Anaheim.