The Ducks come into tonight's game with points in four of their past five and five of their past seven. They're coming off a 5-2 setback two nights ago in Nashville which snapped a two-game winning streak. Adam Henrique and Ondrej Kase found the back of the net in the loss, while John Gibson stopped 28-of-32 shots.
This marks the series opener between the Ducks and Lightning, which has seen Anaheim post an all-time mark of 17-15-2 and an 8-8-1 record in Tampa Bay. The Ducks came away with a 4-1 victory in their last visit to Amalie Arena on Oct. 28, 2017, a game that saw Ryan Getzlaf lead the way with three points (all assists). Henrique leads active Ducks in scoring against the Lightning with 17 points (7g/10a) in 20 career games. The two-game season series will conclude on New Year's Eve at Honda Center.
If defenseman Jake Dotchin plays tonight, it will mark his first game against his former club after the Lightning placed him on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract back in September. The 24-year-old blueliner cleared waivers and signed a one-year contract with Anaheim on October 18, and made his Ducks debut on November 23 vs. Edmonton. Dotchin earned 22 points (3g/19a) with a +27 rating and 73 penalty minutes in 83 career games with the Lightning. "It was a tough month after everything went down, but I feel like I'm back to where I need to be," Dotchin said to reporters today. "I feel good. I'm excited to get a new chance. Excited to be here and experience the other side of the room and the ice."
Veteran netminder Ryan Miller could get the start tonight in the first of back-to-backs that concludes tomorrow in Sunrise, Florida. Miller is 2-2-1 with a 2.70 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. Miller is 22-10 with a 2.60 GAA and .911 SV% in 32 career appearances against Tampa Bay. Tonight could mark the return of Carter Rowney, who has missed 20 consecutive games with an upper-body injury. "It's been a long process," Rowney said. "It's been a test of patience. We got through it. You can take those and learn from it when you're out. It's going to be different playing at game speed. Early, you need to stay simple, try to do some short shifts and try to gain confidence shift by shift."
Tampa Bay enters tonight's matchup with a three-game winning streak and a 7-3-0 mark over its past 10 games. The Lightning has gone 3-0 on their current five-game homestand and sit atop the league with a +24 goal differential. They also hold the best home goal differential in the NHL (+22) and have gone 10-3-0 at Amalie Arena this season.
Nikita Kucherov leads the club in scoring with 32 points (9g/23a), while Brayden Point ranks second with 31 points and a team-high 17 goals. Point recorded his 10th multi-point game of the season two nights ago and has multi-point efforts in five of his past six games. The 22-year-old center recorded a natural hat trick on November 15 at Pittsburgh and was named the NHL's Third Star of the Week for the week ending November 5 after posting eight points (2g/6a) in four games. Louis Domingue, who is expected to get the start in goal tonight, is 8-3-0 with a 3.19 GAA and .905 SV% in 11 appearances this season.
