Ducks at Panthers
The surging Anaheim Ducks put a five-game winning streak on the line when they open a four-game road trip against the reeling Florida Panthers on Tuesday. Anaheim owns the best record in the league and is the only team with a perfect home record, but the club showed its mettle on a recent eight-game trek. The Ducks rebounded from back-to-back losses to start the trip and went 5-0-1 the rest of the way before ripping off three straight home wins.
A change at the helm has done nothing to change the fortunes of Florida, which has dropped its first two games under interim coach Peter Horachek to see its winless drought reach nine games (0-5-4). The Panthers committed a slew of mistakes in Sunday's 4-3 loss at the New York Rangers, drawing the ire of Horachek. "We are not going to get better until we decide we are going to manage the puck better," he said. "These are unforced errors. You can't win hockey games that way."
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), FSN (Florida)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (15-3-1): Rookie Frederik Andersen stepped in for an ill Jonas Hiller in Sunday's 3-1 win over Vancouver to become the second goaltender in 20 years to win his first six NHL starts. Andersen was named the league's Second Star of the Week on Monday after turning aside 92-of-96 shots in victories over the New York Rangers, Buffalo and Vancouver. Hiller has won all three of his career starts against Florida, posting a pair of shutouts in the process.
ABOUT THE PANTHERS (3-11-4): Florida, which has won only once in its last 13 games overall and has dropped its last five at home, is hoping to avoid its first 10-game losing streak since March 22-April 8, 2011. Defenseman Brian Campbell scored his first two goals of the season and eclipsed the 400-point mark for his career in the loss to the Rangers. Rookie Aleksander Barkov added a rare power-play tally for the Panthers, who are a dismal 6-for-62 with the man advantage.
OVERTIME
1. Ducks RW Corey Perry has recorded five goals and three assists during a five-game point streak.
2. Florida is 2-for-28 on the power play during its nine-game skid.
3. Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, the third-leading scorer in the league, sat out Sunday's game after registering his first career hat trick two nights earlier.