The Ducks return to the friendly confines of Honda Center looking to bounce back from a frustrating winless four-game road trip in which Anaheim competed well in some tight games against quality teams, but could not earn the results to show for it.
The club's winless streak hit six games Sunday in
a late loss to the Jets
, who scored three goals in the final six minutes to win 5-2 and nullify a strong early push by the Ducks on the second half of a back-to-back.
"I thought we played a hard game overall," head coach Dallas Eakins said. "After a tough last game, guys came into Winnipeg] and fought hard. I was quite worried about this game on how we were going to come out with the amount of travel we've had this season and that being a back-to-back, but our guys come in every day with good attitudes and work hard."
Anaheim's forward group could include some tweaks tonight. Center Isac Lundestrom fractured his finger on the road trip and will miss six weeks. The club also
[sent down winger Pavol Regenda to AHL San Diego
Monday.
The Ducks and Hurricanes will begin a two-game season series tonight as Carolina continues an odd six-game road trip that also makes stops in Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Los Angeles and New York.
The Canes last played Saturday in a convincing 4-2 victory over the Kings, racing out to an early lead and holding off LA's late surge for their fourth straight win.
"We did a great job today playing our system,"
winger Andrei Svechnikov told NHL.com's Dan Greenspan
. "Just from D-zone to the offensive zone, we were moving the puck pretty fast, so that's why I think we were successful."
Carolina (14-6-5, 33 points) sits second in the Metropolitan Division, potentially on its way to a fifth straight playoff berth.
Following tonight's game, Anaheim and Carolina will meet again on Feb. 25 at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
