GDT: Ducks VS Oilers; Game 74; 04-02-2014

After Historic Rally, Ducks Set to Host Oilers


OILERS (26-41-9) at DUCKS (49-18-8)


TV: SNET-W, SNET-EDM; KDOC


Last 10: Edmonton 3-6-1; Anaheim 6-3-1


Season series: Anaheim and Edmonton meet up for the second time in six days tonight at Honda Center. The Ducks have earned points in seven straight games vs. the Oilers (6-0-1), most recently in a 4-3 overtime loss on Mar. 28 at Rexall Place. Anaheim owns a 44-34-7 all-time record vs. Edmonton, including a 24-16-3 mark at Honda Center.


Nick Bonino (2g/1a), Mathieu Perreault (1g/2a), Kyle Palmieri (1g/2a) and Patrick Maroon (1g/2a) co-lead the Ducks in scoring vs. the Oilers this season, while Bonino and Ben Lovejoy (2g) co-lead in goals. Following tonight's game, the season series will conclude Sunday night in Edmonton.


Big story: The Ducks need as many points as they can get in their final seven games in an attempt to hold off the San Jose Sharks in the race for first place in the Pacific Division and overtake the St. Louis Blues for the top spot in the Western Conference. They'll try to make up for leaving one on the table this past Friday night in Edmonton, when they outshot the Oilers 52-23 but lost 4-3 in overtime.


Team Scope:


Ducks: Anaheim is nothing if not resilient. The Ducks enter the night one point ahead of San Jose for the division lead because they refused to give up on a game that looked lost.


The Ducks trailed the Winnipeg Jets 4-0 late in the second period Monday night, but rallied to force overtime and won the game on Stephane Robidas' goal 16 seconds into OT.


Coach Bruce Boudreau told the media Tuesday he believed his team could beat the Jets, but stopped short of saying the greatest comeback in team history will carry over.


"I don't think those thoughts," Boudreau said. "I think it's great in the moment. It gives you confidence from now on you're never out of a game. But I had those thoughts once [while coaching] Washington; down 4-1 in a playoff game, we won in overtime. I said it's a team of destiny, and then we lost in the second round. So that destiny didn't last too long.


"I don't want to put the same kind of burden on this team. You don't want to have to win 5-4 games, because you can't survive in the playoffs."


Oilers: The line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle was unstoppable Tuesday night at Rexall Place, torching the Sharks for four goals and 10 points. It still wasn't enough, though; the Oilers blew a 4-3 lead in the third period and left for Orange County with a 5-4 loss after overcoming a 3-1 deficit. The winning goal came on the last of San Jose's seven power plays.


"We knew coming in we couldn't take penalties, but for whatever reason, a couple that we probably shouldn't have taken and it comes back to bite us," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I thought we showed a lot of push back. The way we climbed back in the game was really big for us. We just have to take some momentum from it."
Who's hot: Ducks forward Corey Perry has goals in back-to-back games and six points in his past five games. CenterRyan Getzlaf has seven points in that span. ... Hall had a four-point night in San Jose and has seven points in his past four games. Eberle had a goal and two assists against the Sharks, giving him six points in five games.
Injury report: The Ducks are missing defenseman Cam Fowler (knee), though Boudreau said he may be able to return next week. Defenseman Mark Fistric (lower body) had an MRI on Monday. ... Edmonton is without defenseman Andrew Ference (pectoral tear) and forwards Nail Yakupov (ankle), Jesse Joensuu (ankle) and Ryan Jones (torn PCL).

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