Jets at Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks are surging toward the top of the Pacific Division and hope to reach their destination when they host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday. Anaheim is riding a five-game point streak (4-0-1) as it looks to pull even for first place in the Pacific with San Jose, which has lost four in a row and is visiting Dallas.
The Ducks are coming off a 4-3 triumph over Edmonton on Wednesday as defenseman Hampus Lindholm registered his first career three-point performance while captain Ryan Getzlaf notched a trio of assists to raise his team-leading point total to 62. The 31-year-old center has been red hot since Feb. 19, landing on the scoresheet in 11 of 14 games while producing three three-point efforts in that span. Winnipeg's quest for a playoff spot is all but over as it sits 12 points behind Nashville for the second wild card in the Western Conference after Thursday's 5-2 setback in Los Angeles. Patrik Laine scored his 34th goal in the defeat to move one ahead of Toronto's Auston Matthews — and one point as well — for the lead among all NHL rookies.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, TSN3 (Winnipeg), Prime Ticket (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE JETS (33-34-7): Thursday's loss halted Winnipeg's three-game overall winning streak and also put an end to the team's run of six straight road contests with at least one point (3-0-3). Mathieu Perreault has been lighting it up of late, recording a goal and an assist against the Kings to extend his point streak to four games. The 29-year-old center has registered three consecutive two-point performances while collecting three tallies and four assists during his run.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (39-23-11): Getzlaf isn't the only member of the team on fire as Rickard Rakell enters Friday with a career-high six-game point streak during which he has collected five goals and three assists. The 23-year-old Swede leads Anaheim with 32 tallies, 10 of which he has scored over his last 12 contests. Lindholm's three-point effort against the Oilers raised his career total to 109, moving him past Lubomir Visnovsky (108) for eighth place on the franchise list among defensemen, and gave him 80 assists, which pushed him ahead of both Visnovsky and Ruslan Salei (79 apiece) for eighth in team history in that category.
OVERTIME
1. Rakell's goal on Wednesday was his 10th game-winner of the season, moving him past Los Angeles' Jeff Carter for the league lead.
2. Winnipeg D Dustin Byfuglien left Thursday's game in the third period with an undisclosed injury and is questionable to play against the Ducks.
3. Anaheim assigned RW Ondrej Kase, who recorded five goals and nine assists in 51 games, to San Diego of the American Hockey League.