Shorthanded Ducks, Coyotes face off in Anaheim
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- When the Anaheim Ducks and the Arizona Coyotes meet Friday night at the Honda Center, both teams also will be facing a third opponent.
Injuries have claimed key players on both sides. The Ducks' Ryan Getzlaf and Nick Ritchie are both day-to-day after receiving hard hits during Tuesday night's 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle scratched both before Wednesday night's 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and neither participated in Thursday's optional skate.
Getzlaf sustained an upper-body injury but Ritchie's condition generates the greater concern. The 20-year-old left winger left Tuesday night's game late in the second period after Kings defenseman Tom Gilbert hit him in the head while checking him into the glass. Ritchie underwent the league's concussion protocol and Gilbert received a three-game suspension Thursday for his hit, which did not result in a penalty. Carlyle said both forwards will skate in Friday morning's practice.
Ritchie and Getzlaf joined right winger Corey Perry to form Anaheim's top line. But against Pittsburgh, center Antoine Vermette replaced Getzlaf while Rickard Rakell moved into Ritchie's spot at left wing. Expect the same formation if neither Getzlaf nor Ritchie is available Friday night.
The Ducks hope to avoid the kind of ragged start that sabotaged them during their past two home games, Wednesday night's 5-1 loss and a 4-0 defeat to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Oct. 28.
"It's inexcusable," defenseman Cam Fowler said Wednesday night. "Two stinkers in a row at home is not good for a team that expects high things, like we do. Collectively as a group, we're just not there defensively."
The Coyotes, meanwhile, missed four regulars in Thursday night's 3-2 shootout win over the Nashville Predators. Center Martin Hanzal and left winger Tobias Rieder missed their first games of the season because of lower-body injuries. The pair joins defenseman Michael Stone and goalie Michael Smith among the injured. Rieder remains questionable against Anaheim but none of the other three are expected to play.
Replacing Hanzal against Nashville was center Christian Dvorak, who was recalled from Tucson in the AHL and scored his first NHL goal Thursday night. The 20-year-old Dvorak joins a young core that features forwards Max Domi and Anthony Duclair. Last season, Dvorak amassed 52 goals and 121 points in 59 games for the OHL's London Knights.
Arizona received some good news on Wednesday, when Smith skated for the first time since injuring his left leg in the second game of the season Oct. 18 against the Ottawa Senators. Smith remains week-to-week.
"He looks fine out there skating," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett told the Arizona Republic. "But there are just a couple movements that he's going to have to be able to get to before he starts stopping pucks."
Despite the injuries, the Coyotes overcame their 1-5 start by winning three of their next four, reinforcing General Manager John Chayka's optimism.
"The effort and work ethic of our group, and the battle we've shown is good to see," Chayka told the Republic. "You know you have a character group that's going to push through this. There's still lots of expectation that this is a good group of players, and they're going to turn it around."
