Ducks at Wild
Bruce Boudreau spent five seasons behind the bench with Anaheim but he might not recognize his former club when the reeling Ducks visit the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night. Anaheim, which fired Boudreau in 2016 despite leading the club to four straight Pacific Division titles, will be trying to halt a franchise-record 12-game losing streak against its former coach.
The Ducks fell to 0-8-4 during their ugly slide after giving up three third-period goals in a 3-1 loss at lowly Detroit that also saw forwards Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Kesler leave the game with injuries. "It's hard to be critical when you're down to 10 forwards and we're trying to survive," coach Randy Carlyle said after watching his team fall despite scoring first for the fourth straight game. The Wild averted a third straight defeat by squeezing out a 3-2 shootout win over Los Angeles on Tuesday to bounce back from a pair of three-goal losses to Eastern Conference lightweights Philadelphia and Detroit. The teams swung a trade on the eve of the game as Minnesota acquired forward Pontus Aberg from Anaheim on Wednesday for minor-league forward Justin Kloos.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), FS North (Minnesota)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (19-19-9): Two days after trading forward Andrew Cogliano to Dallas for Devin Shore, Anaheim made the deal for Kloos, who has appeared in only one NHL game and had 12 goals and 20 points in 34 games at Iowa of the American Hockey League. It was part of a busy day for the Ducks, who sent Kesler (lower body) back to Anaheim to be evaluated and listed Silfverberg (lower body) as day-to-day after he was unable to practice Wednesday. Forward Rickard Rakell, a 34-goal scorer last season who returned to the lineup on Jan. 9 after sitting out five weeks, has tallied in back-to-back games.
ABOUT THE WILD (23-30-3): Aberg, a second-round draft pick of Nashville in 2012, had a combined five goals and 13 assists in 68 games with the Predators and Edmonton before scoring a career-high 11 times in 37 games in his first season with Anaheim. However, Aberg had fallen out of favor with Carlyle, who scratched him in the past four games and criticized the Swede on Tuesday for a lack of competitiveness. Eric Staal and forward Nino Niederreiter were both mired in lengthy droughts with one goal apiece in their past 14 games before both players scored in regulation in Tuesday's win over the Kings.
OVERTIME
1. Wild F Jason Zucker, who had the lone tally in Tuesday's shootout, had a goal and two assists in a 5-1 win at Anaheim on Nov. 9.
2. Anaheim recalled D Andrej Sustr and Fs Troy Terry and Max Jones from San Diego of the AHL.
3. Wild G Devan Dubnyk is 7-8-2 with a 2.08 goals-against average versus Anaheim.