Ducks at Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights ended the Anaheim Ducks' five-year reign as Pacific Division champions last season in their inaugural campaign, but both teams are struggling to find their form as they prepare to meet for the second time on Wednesday night in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights have won four of five all-time meetings, including a 3-1 victory at home on Oct. 20.
Vegas has labored away from home and wrapped up a four-game trek with a 4-1 setback at Boston on Sunday to fall to 3-8-0 on the road. “Just not enough fire," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant told reporters. "We need a little more fire in our game, a little more energy out there. We play OK, but not good enough.” Anaheim has alternated wins and losses since a seven-game slide (0-5-2) but is coming off a 2-1 shootout victory over league-best Nashville on Monday - handing the Predators their first road loss of the season. "It was a great test for us, especially playing against those guys," Ducks forward Rickard Rakell told reporters. "It shows we can play with any team in this league."
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network
ABOUT THE DUCKS (8-8-3): Anaheim could be short-handed on the blue line due to the uncertain status of defenseman Cam Fowler, who did not practice Tuesday and was undergoing tests after taking a puck off the cheek area later in Monday's game. Forward Ondrej Kase, a 20-goal scorer in 2017-18 who has been sidelined with a concussion suffered in the preseason finale, had four shots on goal in his season debut against Nashville. Captain Ryan Getzlaf, who notched the team's lone regulation tally Monday, has registered four goals and five assists in his last eight games.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (7-10-1): Vegas is getting next to nothing out of its current third line of Tomas Nosek, Ryan Carpenter and Tomas Hyka, who have combined for one goal and five assists on the season. While injuries have led to the grouping, Nosek and Carpenter own the worst plus-minus ratings in the league at minus-14 and 13, respectively. "You can't make excuses," Carpenter told reporters. "No matter who you’re playing with on a line, you want to play the same way as a team. It really shouldn’t matter. We’re just going to keep working hard and hopefully it starts clicking.”
OVERTIME
1. Ducks G John Gibson is 1-3-1 with 12 goals allowed in five appearances against Vegas.
2. Golden Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury is 10-4-0 with a 2.22 goals-against average versus Anaheim.
3. The Ducks recalled D Andy Welinski from San Diego of the American Hockey League.