The Ducks will bring their four-game winning streak back to home ice tonight, hosting the Arizona Coyotes at Honda Center.
PUCK DROP: 7 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS WEST | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER | GET TICKETS
The Ducks will also host their annual Dia de Muertos celebration tonight, highlighted by a crewneck sweater giveaway to the first 10,000 fans plus activities and performances in the Puck Drop Patio. For more on the festivities, click here.
Tonight's game will also feature the first of four Spanish language broadcasts available on an alternate language Ducks Stream (Español) station via TuneIn or AnaheimDucks.com/DucksStream.
Anaheim opens a five-game homestand tonight, looking to simply keep the momentum rolling after a perfect four-game eastern road trip which saw wins in Columbus, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Ducks now stand 5-4-0 on the season, fourth in the Pacific Division by point percentage (.556).
"To go 4-0 and an eastern swing is really tough to do, so it's a great achievement for our group," Mason McTavish said. "We're going to build on that."
The Ducks completed that undefeated trip with a thrilling comeback win in Pittsburgh, stunning the Penguins on McTavish's shorthanded goal with 13 seconds remaining in regulation.
"It was an awesome win," head coach Greg Cronin said. "It was a gutsy win. We didn't have our A-game. I thought Pittsburgh played really well, they won more puck battles and had more scoring chances. But Gibson came in, played really well and then Dostal came in and played outstanding. You have those nights, especially on road trips where you don't have the energy and you don't have the drive you usually have...but when your goalies play as well as our two goalies did, it's a blessing to win."
McTavish and his linemates, Frank Vatrano and Ryan Strome, provided much of the Anaheim offense once again in the victory. McTavish became the fifth Duck in franchise history with a five-game point streak at 20-years-old or younger, while Vatrano moved into a tie for the league lead in goals with his ninth of ths season.
"Stromer and Frank have been terrific," McTavish said. "We've all really benefited [from skating with] each other. It's been a great start."
With a goal tonight in Anaheim's 10th game of the season, Vatrano would become the fastest Duck in franchise history to 10 goals. The current record, shared by Corey Perry (2014-15) and Paul Kariya (1995-96), is 12 games. Vatrano had five goals in four games on Anaheim's road trip, including his second hat trick of the season.
The Ducks will look to push that streak to five in a rematch against the Coyotes, after the former division rival narrowly survived a late Anaheim rally to earn a 2-1 win in October at Mullett Arena. Vatrano scored his fourth goal of the season that afternoon, but the Ducks were plagued by penalty trouble and could not capitalize on several late chances to level the score.
"[The Ducks are] really aggressive on the forecheck and put a lot of pressure on … it's really draining physically and we had a few guys going down," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said postgame that day. "I really loved the way that our guys reacted. They really pushed through and found a way to win."
Since then, Arizona has dropped both ends of a home-and-home series with Los Angeles, before bouncing back with a thorough 8-1 whooping of Chicago Monday night.
“You could see that game against L.A. left a few scars in the sense of the way we started," Tourigny told NHL.com's Alan Robinson. "We weren’t as confident as we’ve been, but from there we got our game back and had the pace we’re used to having."
Arizona sits at 4-4-0 on the season, tied for fourth in the Central Division.
