Hurricanes at Ducks
Anaheim has won two consecutive games heading into Friday's contest against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, and the significance of the Ducks' second winning streak of the season is not lost on center Ryan Kesler. "They’re building blocks,'' Kesler told reporters after Sunday's 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh. "They’re confidence builders. We’ve been playing well for a while now. To finally string some wins together feels good."
Anaheim, which won four straight to begin November, stabilized its goaltending situation as John Gibson is 4-2-1 with a 1.47 goals-against average and .944 save percentage, and expected to make his seventh straight start since being recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League. Gibson was the NHL First Star of the Week after recording shutouts in two of his last four games while allowing three goals in the other two contests. Carolina began a four-game road trip with a 6-5 loss to Dallas on Tuesday after erasing a 5-1 deficit in the third period and has scored 10 goals in its last two contests. "Well, just the fact they stayed with it (is what I liked)," Hurricanes coach Bill Peters told reporters. "I know we had chances throughout the game and they elected to stay with it, clawed their way back."
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Carolinas, Prime Ticket, FSN San Diego (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (10-14-4): Defenseman Justin Faulk leads Carolina with 11 goals and 21 points after scoring twice Tuesday and once in a 5-4 victory over Arizona on Sunday. Captain Eric Staal (five goals, 17 points) has a goal and two assists in his last two games after recording two assists in his previous nine contests. Cam Ward (9-8-3, 2.73 goals-against average, .893 save percentage) has allowed four goals in each of the last two games and in three of his last four.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (11-12-5): Corey Perry has three goals in his last four games and his team-leading 10 tallies have all come in the last 17 contests. Captain Ryan Getzlaf has yet to find his scoring touch with one goal, but one of the premier set-up men in the NHL has a team-most 17 assists, including 11 in the last nine games. Patrick Maroon has been a healthy scratch for the past three games, but could rejoin the lineup as the left wing on the No. 2 line as Anaheim on Thursday reassigned Nick Ritchie to San Diego after the 10th overall pick of the 2014 draft collected one assist in 11 games of his first NHL stint.
OVERTIME
1. Anaheim, which is 3-1-1 on its six-game homestand, boasts the NHL's top penalty-killing unit at 87.8 percent.
2. Carolina has scored a power-play goal in each of its last three games (4-for-11) after going five contests without one (0-for-13).
3. Anaheim has won four straight meetings, including 4-1 on Nov. 16 at Carolina on the strength of Carl Hagelin's goal and two assists.