Ducks at Oilers
The league-leading Anaheim Ducks look to remain perfect this month when they begin a five-game road trip against the Edmonton Oilers in the back end of their home-and-home series Friday. Anaheim improved to 5-0-0 in December with a 2-1 triumph over Edmonton at Honda Center on Wednesday as Matt Beleskey and Ryan Kesler tallied while Frederik Andersen made 21 saves. The victory gave the Ducks 43 points, two more than Chicago and Tampa Bay.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the lone goal for the Oilers, who suffered their 13th loss in 14 games (1-9-4). Edmonton has struggled mightily against the Western Conference this season, going 1-14-4 - including a 1-10-1 mark versus Pacific Division rivals. The Oilers have had difficulty producing offensively as they've netted more than two tallies once in their last 10 contests.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Anaheim), RSN West (Edmonton)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (19-6-5): Anaheim made a number of roster moves Thursday, assigning defenseman Josh Manson to Norfolk of the American Hockey League and Igor Bobkov to Utah of the ECHL while activating fellow goaltender Jason LaBarbera from injured reserve and sending Dany Heatley to Norfolk for conditioning. LaBarbera likely will dress for Friday's contest after missing five games with a fractured hand. Beleskey has scored seven of his career-high 14 goals over his last 11 contests.
ABOUT THE OILERS (7-17-5): Despite its problems this season, Edmonton emerged with a feel-good story Wednesday as Brandon Davidson made his NHL debut. The 23-year-old defenseman, who was selected in the sixth round of the 2010 draft, registered a plus-1 rating and blocked a shot in 13:08 of ice time while - more importantly - proving his health is not an issue. Davidson was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2012 but recently was declared free of the disease, although he will continue to undergo blood work and a body scan every six months - with the procedures moving to one year, then five should the results continue to be in his favor.
OVERTIME
1. Andersen has made a career-high 16 consecutive starts, the most by a Ducks netminder since Jonas Hiller set the franchise record with 32 from Jan. 12-March 18, 2012.
2. Edmonton has scored more than three goals once since netting a season-high six in a victory over Carolina on Oct. 24.
3. The Ducks are 17-3-1 against the Oilers since the start of the 2009-10 campaign.