Anaheim will look to right the ship after a disappointing performance last night in Calgary pushed its losing streak to three games. The Ducks cut into a two-goal deficit early in the second period on Sonny Milano's tenth of the season, but two costly mistakes in the moments afterwords sunk the Ducks' comeback chances.
"We were coming along fine in the second and then we gave them two goals," head coach Dallas Eakins said. "This time of year, it's a lot like snooker. It's not so much what you make, it's what you leave."
The Ducks and Oilers are tied for third in the Pacific Division in points (55), along with the Kings, but the Oil hold three games in hand. Anaheim sits fifth by point percentage (.550), narrowly behind both Edmonton (.585) and Los Angeles (.573).
Each of the Ducks next four games are against Pacific Division opponents, including the first Honda Center visits of the season for both California rivals,
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All-Star netminder John Gibson projects to start for the second straight night after leaving the game in Calgary midway through the second period.
"He was dealing with nothing," Eakins said postgame, assuring Gibson's health had nothing to do with the decision to insert backup Anthony Stolarz. "The chances we were going to comeback were low, so I'd rather have him rested and ready for [Thursday]."
Stolarz stopped 21-of-22 shots in 31 minutes of relief.
Edmonton has made significant changes since its last meeting with Anaheim. The Oilers fired veteran NHL head coach Dave Tippett and replaced him with Jay Woodcroft, the former bench boss for the club's AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. Edmonton promoted Woodcroft's top assistant too - Dave Manson, Ducks defenseman Josh Manson's father. The younger Manson remains on injured reserve with an upper-body injury.
On the ice, Edmonton also signed former Shark Evander Kane after his controversial exit from San Jose. Kane has three goals and three assists in his first eight games as an Oiler.
Edmonton won that first matchup over Anaheim in typical Oilers fashion, outgunning the Ducks 6-5 in a back-and-forth offensive battle. Kevin Shattenkirk and Sam Steel each scored twice for Anaheim, but the Ducks were unable to slow down the elite duo of Connor McDavid (1-2=3) and Leon Draisaitl (2-2=4).
Draisaitl has 27 points (14-13=27) in 23 career games against Anaheim.
Despite an 8-1-2 record in their last 11 games and three straight wins under Woodcroft, the Oilers have actually struggled on home ice of late, with a 4-9-0 record in their 13 games at Rogers Place after starting the season 9-1-0.
The Oilers make their lone visit to Honda Center on Apr. 3 to close the three-game season series.
