The Ducks (21-16-2) host a New Years Eve matinee against the Lightning (22-13-3) at Honda Center.
Puck drop is set for 1 p.m. PT and will air on Victory+ and FOX 11.
Anaheim dropped its third-straight game on Monday, falling 5-4 to the Sharks. Troy Terry accounted for two of the team’s four goals with the others coming courtesy of Pavel Mintyukov and Cutter Gauthier.
“It was a tough one,” head coach Joel Quenneville said. “I thought we did a lot of good things and chased the game, but we gave ourselves a chance, and we chipped away, chipped away, and just a little short at the end. I thought it was a good response from what we were going into today's game, and two points was what the ultimate prize. There's a lot of positives coming out of it.”
“I think as a whole, we played a really good game,” Gauthier said. “Thought we had a really good second and third period, but their goalie played a really good game, and it's just unfortunate you have some games like that, and you just have to keep the positive mindset that we did our fundamentals and just didn't come up with enough goals.”
In the game, the Ducks had 42 shots on goal and held the Sharks to just 13 shots, the fewest allowed since October 2014. It was the sixth time in franchise history the team held an opponent to 13 or fewer shots on goal in a game.
Despite the loss, one of the positives of Anaheim’s play was thecontributions from young players like Mintyukov. He currently has five goals in 34 games compared to last year where he finished with five goals in 68 contests. Gauthier’s score put him at 19 for the season which leads the club.
While the Ducks are now third in the Pacific Division, it’s still as tight as ever with Edmonton, Las Vegas, and Anaheim totaling 46, 45, and 44 points, respectively.
The Lightning are currently on a four-game win streak and recently beat the Canadiens, 5-4, in shootouts on Sunday.
Nikita Kucherov leads the team with 49 points (17 goals, 32 assists) while Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel are tied for the team-lead in goals with 18 each. Hagel returned to the lineup on Sunday after missing the prior four games with an upper body injury.
These two teams last met in late October with Tampa Bay getting a 4-3 win.
