Ducks at Stars
The Anaheim Ducks vie for their fifth victory in six games and look to keep the Dallas Stars winless in that stretch when the former Pacific Division rivals meet at American Airlines Center on Sunday. Corey Perry scored twice in Friday's 4-2 victory over Los Angeles and also tallied in regulation before setting up Nate Thompson's overtime winner in Anaheim's 2-1 triumph over Dallas on Oct. 31. Perry routinely has shot down the Stars in impressive fashion, collecting four goals and five assists in the last eight meetings.
Frederik Andersen, who made 21 saves in the teams' first encounter, could be in line to return following an eight-game absence due to an upper-body injury. Goaltending remains a hot-button topic for Dallas, which has yielded 26 goals during its losing streak (0-3-2) and saw coach Lindy Ruff effectively call out Kari Lehtonen after Friday's 5-4 shootout loss to Colorado. "The goaltending performance doesn't match the effort of the team. It's as simple as that," Ruff said.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
ABOUT THE DUCKS (39-17-7): Although it holds a commanding 12-point lead over second-place Vancouver in the Pacific, Anaheim opted to add some depth by acquiring Tomas Fleischmann from Florida on Saturday for veteran Dany Heatley and a third-round pick in this year's draft. Fleischmann will begin his second NHL stint with Bruce Boudreau, having played for the coach with Washington from 2007-11. "It has been pretty obvious that we aren't skilled enough. (Fleischmann) brings skill and smarts," general manager Bob Murray told the Orange County Register.
ABOUT THE STARS (27-25-10): Antoine Roussel scored versus the Avalanche and also netted his team's lone goal in the first meeting with Anaheim. Jason Spezza also tallied against Colorado and has four goals and four assists in the seven games since leading scorer Tyler Seguin suffered a knee injury. Cody Eakin collected two goals and an assist against the Avalanche after mustering just two tallies in his previous nine contests.
OVERTIME
1. Anaheim C Ryan Kesler scored versus the Kings and resides two goals shy of 200 for his career.
2. Dallas has won just three of its 13 games that have ventured past regulation.
3. The Ducks are just 1-for-16 on the power play over their last eight games and went 0-for-4 versus the Stars in the first meeting.