Preview: Ducks Back in Action Tonight in Utah

The Ducks will Salt Lake City tonight for the second half of a back-to-back, facing off with the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center.

PUCK DROP: 7 P.M. PT | WATCH: TNT / truTV / MAX | AUDIO: DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER

Anaheim hits the road again after a 7-4 loss to first-place Washington in last night's homestand finale at Honda Center. The Ducks twice rallied to tie the game in the third period, on goals by Pavel Mintyukov and Frank Vatrano, but would not be able to hold off a late Caps push to force overtime.

"I thought we battled pretty hard the whole game to stay in it and get even," defenseman Jacob Trouba, who scored his first goal as a Duck in the loss, said postgame. "We kind of let it slip away there at the end with some costly mistakes."

"We were resilient, we battled back," head coach Greg Cronin added. "I talked to them after the game about managing the puck. The winning goal was on a turnover, it was needless. We just should have moved the puck forward and put it deep. We had momentum, it was a fight, both teams were punching in the third period, back and forth. It was actually a really entertaining game to watch, I’m sure the fans enjoyed it, but we have to learn from that."

The loss dropped Anaheim to 28-29-7 on the season and 15-15-2 on home ice. The Ducks remain seven points back of the Western Conference's final Wild Card position.

“We had spurts where we were playing well, but for the most part, I don’t think we had our best game and we still hung with the best team in the league,” defenseman Drew Helleson said. “That shows confidence, but there’s no moral wins, because points are huge at this time of year...I think if you look at our record against the top teams in the league, we’ve held our own and it shows us that we can hang with these guys. We've we just got to do it night in night out, just try to stay consistent as best we can in the last games we have left."

Despite the setback, Anaheim's offense continued its hot streak and now ranks seventh in the NHL in the 10 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

Vatrano's third-period goal was his team-best 20th of the season, making him the ninth player in franchise history with three straight 20-goal seasons. The third-year Duck leads Anaheim in goals and ranks second in points.

The Ducks now visit Utah for the second time this season, facing their newest conference foe in while both teams fight to stay in the Wild Card race. Utah enters play Wednesday night coming off losses to Chicago and Toronto, in overtime and a shootout respectively.

“There's a level of frustration we didn't get [two points], but there's a huge level of pride in the character we showed and how we managed our emotions, how we managed the game in those tough situations,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny told media after the loss to the Maple Leafs.

Anaheim claimed a shootout victory in the season's first trip to Utah just before the holiday break, answering a three-goal deficit to steal away two points.

“It was kind of a back-and-forth game, we just weren't good on our details and just kind of played a little too loose, and that’s what happens,” Utah captain Clayton Keller said that night. “They get some life, they get some bounces, and we unfortunately lose the game."

Utah (28-25-11, 67 points) sits sixth in the Central Division, three points back of a playoff spot.