Golden Knights at Ducks preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (24-15-4) at DUCKS (19-15-7)
10 p.m. ET, SN, FS-W, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The forward, who has missed seven games with a lower-body injury, practiced in full with the Golden Knights on Thursday and participated in the morning skate Friday.
Vegas, 5-0-2 in its past seven games, will attempt to win its fifth straight; the Golden Knights also won five consecutive games from Nov. 21-29.
The Ducks will try to avoid their seventh loss in a row, which would match their longest losing streak this season (0-5-2, Oct. 20-Nov. 1). They are 0-4-2 in their past six games and have scored two goals or fewer in five of them.

Players to watch

Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is 5-0-2 with a 2.11 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in his past seven starts. He has allowed one goal on 47 shots in two wins against Anaheim this season.
Ducks forward Nick Ritchie has five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak, one short of his NHL high.

They said it

"We always know [Anaheim] is a tough team to beat, so we've got to be humble and recognize we've been successful lately because we work hard." -- Golden Knights center William Karlsson
"We know what kind of group we have here. We showed it last month. We need to get ready and get [a win] again here in January." -- Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Tomas Nosek -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tuch
Max Pacioretty -- Cody Eakin -- Ryan Carpenter
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Jon Merrill -- Nick Holden
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Oscar Lindberg, Brad Hunt, Valentin Zykov
Injured: Erik Haula (knee), Colin Miller (upper body)

Ducks projected lineup

Kiefer Sherwood -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Daniel Sprong
Nick Ritchie -- Adam Henrique -- Ondrej Kase
Andrew Cogliano -- Ryan Kesler -- Jakob Silfverberg
Pontus Aberg -- Brian Gibbons -- Carter Rowney
Hampus Lindholm -- Brandon Montour
Jacob Larsson -- Josh Manson
Josh Mahura -- Andy Welinski
John Gibson
Chad Johnson
Scratched: Ben Street, Jake Dotchin
Injured: Corey Perry (knee surgery), Cam Fowler (facial fractures), Patrick Eaves (rib), Rickard Rakell (ankle), Ryan Miller (knee), Korbinian Holzer (wrist surgery)

Status report

Pacioretty practiced on a line with Eakin and Carpenter, as well as with the second power-play unit. .. Pirri was sent to Chicago of the American Hockey League, likely to make room for Pacioretty. ... Rakell, Eaves and Holzer returned to practice on Thursday, but no timetable has been set for the return of each player.

Stat pack

Eakin will play in his 500th NHL game and Schmidt in his 300th. … Kase has three points (two goals, one assist) in his past two games. … Getzlaf has no points in his past five games.