Coyotes at Ducks
THE STORY: Mike Smith is admittedly struggling, but he hopes facing a familiar foe will lead him back to his winning ways. After getting pulled in two of his last four starts, Smith is expected to be back in net for the Phoenix Coyotes' road tilt against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday. Smith has defeated the Ducks twice already this season to run his career mark to 5-0-1 versus the Pacific Division rival, but his recent play has been every bit as less desirable. Smith yielded three power-play goals in the Coyotes' 4-1 loss to the NHL-leading Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The setback was the third in four outings for the netminder, who saw his goals-against average balloon from 2.08 to 2.50. "You’ve got to try and work hard and get out of it,” Smith said. “The past week hasn't been very good, so I have to find a way to get out of this funk and get back to the way I was playing before," Smith said. Speaking of funks, well ... there's Anaheim, which has mustered only 67 goals en route to an NHL-low 21 points this season. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau has seen his team post a 1-3-1 mark since he replaced Randy Carlyle. Both clubs enter Wednesday's contest on two-game losing streaks.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Arizona Plus (Phoenix), FS Prime Ticket (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE COYOTES (15-11-3): The Coyotes have scored only twice on the power play in their last 46 opportunities with the man advantage. The woeful display over the last 16 games has knocked Phoenix down to an NHL-worst 10.9 percent. "It’s not rocket science when your PP is as bad as ours has been for the last how many games," captain Shane Doan said. Defenseman Rostislav Klesla has missed his team's last four contests with a lower body injury, but may be able to return Wednesday.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (8-16-5): Veteran Teemu Selanne has collected seven points in his last five games and leads the team with 29 points, but has only one assist in his last seven contests against the Coyotes. Anaheim may see the return of All-Star defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, who has been sidelined for 13 games with a broken finger. The puck-moving blue-liner got off to a slow start when he was healthy, but his return could go a long way to help Anaheim back toward respectability.
OVERTIME:
1. The first goal is always critical in any hockey game, but especially when Phoenix is concerned. The Coyotes are 13-1-3 when scoring first - and 2-10-0 when they don't.
2. Anaheim center Saku Koivu is nursing a lower body injury that kept him out of Saturday's contest. He is questionable to return on Wednesday.