Ducks at Devils
The Anaheim Ducks have regained their footing following a rocky three-week stretch and will go for their seventh consecutive victory when they visit the New Jersey Devils on Friday. Anaheim has surged into first place in the Pacific Division in the wake of the six-game winning streak, which came on the heels of an 11-game stretch during which it won only three times (3-4-4). The Ducks will be out to avenge an overtime home loss to New Jersey on Nov. 20 that was decided by an own goal.
The Devils lost five of their first six games in December, but they have bounced back with a pair of three-goal victories over Tampa Bay and Ottawa entering the finale of their three-game homestand. New Jersey matched its season-high goal total in Wednesday's 5-2 drubbing of the Senators and can reach the NHL version of .500 with a victory over Anaheim. The Devils have won their last four meetings with the Ducks, with the previous three each decided by one goal.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), MSG Plus (New Jersey)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (24-7-5): Jonas Hiller was victimized by the own goal in the previous meeting with the Devils, but he arrives in New Jersey riding a five-start winning streak. Hiller can expect to receive a heavy workload after Viktor Fasth was sent back to Anaheim on Thursday to continue his recovery from a lower-body injury that has sidelined him since Nov. 22. “He’s not ready to play this weekend," coach Bruce Boudreau said. “If he could’ve gotten a couple good practices in, then there would’ve been a chance he could play. But we decided we’d be pushing it a bit.”
ABOUT THE DEVILS (14-15-6): Rookie Reid Boucher picked the wrong night to score his first NHL goal, coming in the same game that saw future Hall-of-Famer Jaromir Jagr move into sole possession of eighth place on the all-time goal-scoring list while also surpassing Gordie Howe for the most game-winning tallies (122) in league history. Still, while Jagr's accomplishments garnered the majority of the headlines, coach Peter DeBoer noted that Boucher's play has not been overlooked. "He has instincts you can't teach," DeBoer said. "I like a lot of things about him. He creates."
OVERTIME
1. Anaheim can match a franchise record with a win Friday. It also won seven straight in October as well as in 1999.
2. Jagr needs one goal to tie Mark Messier (694) for seventh place on the all-time list.
3. Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf had his official 14-game point streak halted in Tuesday's 5-2 win at Detroit. The veteran had notched a point in 16 straight games but missed three contests in between due to injury.