Coyotes look to continue early season dominance over Ducks
The Coyotes have maintained a place ahead of the Anaheim Ducks in the Pacific Division standings since beating the Ducks 4-0 in the season's opening week, but their positioning is in jeopardy heading into Wednesday night's game at Gila River Arena.
The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona Plus, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Arizona, which also owns an overtime victory over the Ducks (both wins came in Anaheim), is 10-9-1 after losing three of four games on their most recent road trip. The Coyotes have been off since suffering a 3-2 loss in Winnipeg on Saturday night.
"It was a competitive game," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Couple of bounces here and there but it was a real tight game. They capitalized on their chance in the third and that was the difference in the game."
The Coyotes gave up 15 goals during the four-game trip and are allowing their opponents 3.36 goals per game in their past 11 outings (5-6-0).
Rookies Anthony Duclair (four goals) and Max Domi (three goals and an assist) have been at the forefront of their two victories over Anaheim, accounting for seven of the eight goals in the two games combined.
While the Coyotes should be well-rested, Anaheim (8-10-4) is coming off a Tuesday night game -- a 5-3 win over Calgary on its home ice. The Ducks rallied to win after spotting the Flames a 2-0 first-period lead. Corey Perry and Rickard Rakell scored two goals apiece, and Ryan Getzlaf assisted on all five scores. Getzlaf has nine points in his last five games after totaling only five in his first 13.
The Ducks have averaged 2.67 goals in 12 games since the start of November after scoring only 10 times in their first 10 games. Tuesday was their first five-goal game of the season.
"Every night isn't going to go that way, but we worked hard for our shots tonight," Perry told the team's official website. "We were clicking. We were feeding off of each other. That's the way we have to play."
Both teams have had some health concerns in goal, with Anaheim's Frederik Andersen missing Tuesday's game due to illness, and backup Anton Khudobin giving up two goals on five shots before being pulled for John Gibson. If Andersen is able to play, he'll be trying to improve on a 1-2-2 span with a 3.80 goals-against average that began against Arizona. He's 3-0-3 with a 1.58 GAA in seven games in the series.
The Coyotes' are hoping to get Mike Smith back in goal after he sat out the Winnipeg game with a lower body injury. Smith was in goal for the shutout victory over Anaheim in October, but he's just 2-5-1 against the Ducks over the past three seasons.
Arizona's Anders Lindback faced the Jets and has allowed 10 goals in his last three games, but Mike Smith figures to be in goal after sitting out because of a lower-body injury. Smith beat Montreal with 31 saves to get to 4-2-0 with a 2.76 GAA this month after suffering through a 1-3-1 seven-game span with a 4.55 mark.
He was in goal for the shutout in Anaheim, though he's 2-5-1 in nine games of the series dating to the start of 2013-14.
