Ducks at Red Wings
The reeling Detroit Red Wings will try to salvage something from a miserable five-game homestand when they play host to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night. The punchless Red Wings have failed to score more than one goal in each contest -- and three total -- during the four-game skid, with three of the defeats coming by 4-1 margins.
Detroit went down meekly in Thursday's 4-1 loss to Los Angeles, matching a season low with 18 shots on net and mustering only eight through the first two periods. "I wouldn't say it’s lack of confidence, it’s just finding that relentless will to get the job done,” Red Wings defenseman Mike Green said. Anaheim rebounded from a 6-2 drubbing at Dallas by erasing an early two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win at Boston on Thursday. The Ducks have won four of five entering the third stop on their six-game road trip.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Prime Ticket (Anaheim), FSN Detroit)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (16-10-5): Anaheim did not practice Friday but one of the ongoing concerns is the ineffectiveness of its penalty-killing unit. The Ducks have surrendered at least one power-play tally in six of the past seven games. "There’s some areas that we’re lax in. And we do an evaluation of the goals we gave up," acknowledged coach Randy Carlyle after Thursday's win. "There’s a bunch of points that you always refer back to. We got to hit all of them. And there’s some areas that we have to shore up for sure.”
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (13-14-4): Going up against Anaheim's struggling penalty kill could provide a boost for Detroit, which has failed on all 13 power-play opportunities over the past four games following an 0-for-4 effort against Los Angeles. "We really have our work cut out for us on the power play," Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist said. "We just have to find a way to get that going. We are losing a lot of games because of that.” Detroit has converted on 1 of 24 chances with the extra skater in eight games in December.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit has won only once in regulation over its past 16 games.
2. Ducks F Rickard Rakell, who has scored eight times in 12 contests, is riding a five-game point streak.
3. Red Wings G Petr Mrazek has allowed three goals in each of his last three starts.