Ducks at Jets
Having clinched a fifth consecutive playoff berth and riding a five-game winning streak, the Anaheim Ducks will look to keep the fives coming as they continue their pursuit of a fifth straight Pacific Division title. Nursing a two-point lead over San Jose and Edmonton, first-place Anaheim visits the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday in the second stop of a four-game road trip.
Despite the absence of captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf, the surging Ducks kept their winning streak intact while improving to 9-1-1 over the last 11 games with a 4-1 victory at Vancouver on Tuesday night. “We knew what was at stake,” forward Corey Perry said. “We’ve been building and building for this all season. That was a goal, to make the playoffs. We did that and now it has to snowball from here.” Anaheim won both meetings with Winnipeg this season to extend its point streak to nine games (8-0-1) in the series. The Jets were eliminated from the playoff chase Monday but won at New Jersey 4-3 in a shootout 24 hours later for their fifth victory in the last seven games.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN West (Anaheim), TSN3 (Winnipeg)
ABOUT THE DUCKS (42-23-11): Anaheim called off practice Wednesday and Getzlaf, who was a late scratch Tuesday, is listed as questionable. Randy Carlyle will have to sort out his goaltending rotation with John Gibson set to return after a seven-game injury absence, but Jonathan Bernier has won five straight starts to give his coach pause. “He’s going to have to earn his spot because the guy that’s been in there has been pretty good,” Carlyle said. “That’s the way we’re going to deal with it.”
ABOUT THE JETS (35-35-7): Winnipeg owns the league's second-worst penalty-killing unit at 76.9 percent, but second-year forward Joel Armia is holding up his end on the unit. A first-round draft pick of Buffalo in 2011, Armia delivered the tying goal in the third period at New Jersey with his third short-handed tally of the season. "We think he has lots of skill," Jets coach Paul Maurice said of the 23-year-old Armia. "There's lots there that we like and he's going to get better. He's just developing.”
OVERTIME
1. Bernier is 9-0-1 with a 1.58 goals-against average in his last 10 starts, including a 3-1 win over the Jets on Friday.
2. Jets captain Blake Wheeler has three goals and nine assists in his last eight games.
3. Ducks F Antoine Vermette halted a nine-game point drought with a pair of assists versus Vancouver.