DUCKS (15-3-1) at COYOTES (9-8-3)
Tonight marks the start of one of the weirdest stretches of games on the Ducks schedule. Anaheim will play the next three game against the Phoenix Coyotes, starting with a back-to-back games in Arizona.
The Ducks and the Coyotes face-off tonight. Anaheim will remain Glendale for another game Monday night, and both teams will fly back to California for another contest on Wednesday night.
(The Ducks will do this again later in the season, but with the Dallas Stars.)
The Ducks lead the Pacific Division by nine points and are solidly locked into a playoff spot. Phoenix on the other hand sits in 11th in the West, but are only one point behind the seven and eight seeds. Believe it or not the next three games could make-or-break the season for the 'Yotes.
A sweep by the Ducks and Phoenix could be finished. A sweep by the Coyotes and they will put themselves in good position to make a playoff run.
If the Coyotes are going to keep pace with the Ducks they will have to find a way to cool off the blazing-hot line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and w
hoever else Bruce Boudreau puts on that line.
Getzlaf finished the month of February with 16 points (4g 12a) and started March where he left off, with an assist last night against Minnesota. Perry has been just as good. The Ducks winger has a seven game point streak. He has 12 points (4g 8a) over that span.
Viktor Fasth should get the start tonight. Jonas Hiller played last night and looked very good. Hiller was sensational at times, making 33 saves and holding off the surging Wild in the third period. It was probably his best performance of the season.
Hiller's performance is a great sign for the Ducks. I'd much rather have two very good goalies than one good one and one - well - who isn't. The tandem should feed off each other and hopefully push the other guy to be better. I think that is what we saw from Hiller last night.
Ducks:
Last nights line-up (subject to change). There was no morning skate:
Kyle Palmieri - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Matt Beleskey - Bobby Ryan - Teemu Selanne
Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Daniel Winnik
Patrick Maroon - Nick Bonino - Emerson Etem
Defensive Pairings
Toni Lydman - Francois Beauchemin
Luca Sbisa - Cam Fowler
Bryan Allen - Ben Lovejoy
Goalies:
Viktor Fasth (starter)
Jonas Hiller
Scratched: Sheldon Souray, Brad Staubitz (I would surprised if Souray sits again.)
Phoenix Coyotes expected lines (dailyfaceoff.com). (Subject to Change)
Mikkel Boedker - Antoine Vermette - Shane Doan
Steve Sullivan - Matthew Lombardi - Lauri Korpikoski
Raffi Torres - Boyd Gordon - David Moss
Nick Johnson - Kyle Chipchura - Paul Bissonnette
Defensive Pairings:
Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Zbynek Michalek
Keith Yandle - ?
Michael Stone - Rostislav Klesla
Goalies:
Mike Smith
Jason LaBarbera
***
Highlights of the Ducks 3-2 win over Minnesota:
* Ryan Getzlaf scored his seventh goal of the season in the Ducks 19th game. He had 11 goals in 82 games last season.
* Teemu Selanne picked up his sixth goal of the season and the 669th of his career– which broke a tie with Luc Robitaille for 11th on the all-time list. Basically, every time Teemu scores from now on he is going to make history.
* Matt Beleskey's game-winning goal was his fourth of the year and first in five games. That gives the Ducks 11 players with at least four goals.
* Jonas Hiller made 33 saves to improve his season record to 6-2-1. He was fantastic. I hope he keeps this up.
* Zach Parise was held scoreless despite leading the Wild with five shots on goal.
* Ben Lovejoy finished with a plus-2 on the night. He had been minus-3 over his last three games.
***
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