Hurricanes at Ducks
The Anaheim Ducks will attempt to put their most embarrassing loss of the season behind them when they kick off a three-game homestand against the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. Anaheim is coming off a three-game road trip (1-1-1) through Western Canada that ended with a thud in an 8-3 mauling by the Calgary Flames.
“We got to forget about it and move on,” Ducks forward Ryan Kesler said. “We’ve been playing well. We’ve been playing good hockey. You’re going to have a couple of these in the year." Anaheim had lost three straight at home before squeezing out a 2-1 victory over Montreal on Nov. 29 -- its fifth straight one-goal decision at Honda Center. Similarly, the Hurricanes have had little margin for error, with Sunday's 1-0 overtime win over Tampa Bay marking their seventh one-goal game in the last eight. The three-game trek through California will conclude a stretch of playing nine of 11 away from home for Carolina.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Carolina, FSN West (Anaheim)
ABOUT THE HURRICANES (10-10-5): Although Carolina ended its five-goal overtime drought behind Cam Ward's 25 career shutout, coach Bill Peters knows his offense must get untracked after being held to two goals or fewer in seven of its last eight games. "Wardo stood tall," Peters said of Ward. "But we still need to find a way to score. We need to get different results offensively." Forward Jordan Staal, sidelined the past four games with a concussion, will not accompany the team on the road trip.
ABOUT THE DUCKS (12-9-5): Rickard Rakell, second on Anaheim with 10 goals, sat out the debacle against Calgary due to an upper-body injury but was back at practice Tuesday, albeit in a non-contact jersey. "I'm starting to feel better," Rakell said. "Just taking it day by day, hoping it gets even better tomorrow." Starting goaltender John Gibson also was back at practice after dealing with a stomach virus on the Canadian trip, which is why coach Randy Carlyle left Jonathan Bernier in net for all eight goals.
OVERTIME
1. Carolina's penalty-killing unit has a league-best 91.3 percent success rate.
2. Ducks F Corey Perry is riding an 18-game goal-scoring drought.
3. Hurricanes F Elias Lindholm (lower body), out the past two games, wore a non-contact jersey at Tuesday's practice but will be on the road trip.