Preview: Ducks Battle First Place Hurricanes in Road Trip Finale

The Ducks cap a four-game eastern road trip tonight with a matchup against one of the NHL's top-ranked teams, facing the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
PUCK DROP: 4 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER

Anaheim snapped a six-game winless skid Thursday with a
comeback 4-2 win over the Capitals
in Washington and will now look to return home with a winning record on its final eastern trip of the season.

"We don't deal much in streaks around here, it's game-by-game all the time," said head coach Dallas Eakins. "I think that's important because it enables us to come in and battle in games. If you start looking at streaks, streaks are all about the past. There's absolutely nothing you can do about them. It's a great credit to our guys to have a neutral mindset."
"It's been tough sledding for us this year, a lot of ups and downs, so any time you can get a win on the road...it feels good," Ryan Strome added. "In such a tough season, you want to ride the highs as much as you can, take the two points, move on and get ready for a good Carolina team."

The win was also the latest in a line of spectacular performances by goaltender John Gibson, who made 41 saves and earned another notable spot in NHL history.
Gibson's 21st save Thursday was his 1,323rd of the year, the most by any NHL netminder through their first 40 games of a season since Jacques Plante (1,396) in 1963-64. He leads the NHL in games with 30+ saves (19), 40+ saves (10) and 50+ saves (2).

"He comes in and prepares every day," Eakins said. "He's about as fierce of a competitor as you'll find. He's been very resilient being a goaltender for a rebuilding team. That takes a lot of patience and it takes a lot of intestinal fortitude. I was really proud of how we played Thursday."
"He's been great in a tough year," Strome said. "His numbers don't replicate how good he's been. He's one of the guys you feel good about [in a win], because he works his butt off every day and stands in there every day...It feels good to help him out."
Jakob Silfverberg also celebrated a milestone moment in the victory, breaking a 2-2 third-period tie and, in the process, passing Bobby Ryan for seventh-most goals in Ducks history.

"It feels pretty good. It's been a while here of not scoring as many goals so that feels pretty good," the ever-humble Silfverberg admitted postgame before turning the attention back to his team's success. "It's nice to get a win. We've been struggling lately so we've got to finish this road trip off the right way in Carolina."
Silfverberg, who came to Anaheim in the July 2013 trade that sent Ryan to Ottawa, ranks in the club's all-time top 10 in games played (667, fifth), goals (148, seventh), assists (177, ninth), points (325, eighth), game-winning goals (17, tied-eighth) and shorthanded goals (10, third).
He's also second in Ducks history in scoring among European players, trailing only former teammate Rickard Rakell.
Silfverberg and the Ducks will conclude their trip against the NHL's second-ranked team. Carolina leads the Metropolitan Division, currently with a five-point lead over second-place New Jersey.
The Canes enter play Saturday riding a five-game win streak, including a 4-0 shutout victory last night over Ottawa and a 4-1 triumph a week ago today in the club's first ever outdoor game.
"Antti Raanta] made a couple of huge saves,"
[Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour told NHL.com's Kurt Dusterberg after last night's win
. "He was, in my opinion, the best player on the ice tonight."
After Raanta backstopped Carolina to its 14th win in 16 games Friday, Anaheim could be in line to square off with a familiar face in former Duck goaltender Frederik Andersen. A 2012 third-round pick, Andersen played his first 125 NHL games as a Duck and helped the club to the 2015 Western Conference Finals.
He ranks second among all-time Ducks goalies in playoff games (28), second in wins (17) and fourth in goals against average (2.34). This season, Andersen owns a 14-4-0 record, with wins in three straight games.
Anaheim will shoot for a two-game season series sweep of Carolina tonight, after the
Ducks earned a 4-3 OT victory on home ice
in November. Ryan Strome scored the game-winning goal that night, breaking a 3-3 tie that had stood since late in the middle frame.

"Obviously, in overtime you want to try to take advantage," Strome said that night. "This year I feel like I have a little more confidence in
overtime, for whatever reason. You have to go out there with the intention of winning the game and that's what we did. We possessed the puck, we held on to it, we got one chance and we buried it."