The Ducks will begin a busy final weekend of 2023 tonight, hosting the former division rival Arizona Coyotes at Honda Center.
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Anaheim gets right back to work after a convincing 5-2 victory over Vegas Wednesday night in both teams' return from the holiday break. The Ducks raced out to an early 4-0 lead before the game was even 13 minutes old, then held off a second-period push to earn their second straight win over the defending Stanley Cup champs.
"It was definitely a good first period," Jamie Drsydale said. "It's nice to get on top to start the game and come out quick. It was nice to be able to do that and nice to win the game in the end."
"We had energy and we were buzzing," head coach Greg Cronin added. "I thought we did a good job keeping them to the outside when they did get shots. We were able to clear the puck out of socring areas or get to sticks."
The win, Anaheim's third in its last five games, pushed the club to 13-21-0 on the season.
"We have a good team here," said winger Brett Leason, who scored twice in the win. "I think we can get some wins. We've been a bit unlucky with some games, lots of one-goal defeats, but I think we're a good team and we can compete."
"We want to build off of it," John Gibson said. "We did a lot of good things...Now we need to take those things and keep building."
Anaheim and Arizona will decide a three-game season series tonight. The Coyotes beat the Ducks 2-1 back in October behind a 32-save performance by Karel Vejmelka. The Ducks then responded a few weeks later in Orange County, grabbing an OT victory on Troy Terry's second career NHL hat trick.
"They're a fast team," Cronin said that night. "They play a real high-speed, dynamic offensive game. They've got their defenseman up in the play, on the cycles and half the time they're in front of the net.
"There were periods where they had the puck, but we did a good job of mirroring movement and keeping it out of the middle of the ice. But with the way they play, if you're not sharp and you're not skating, they're going to get quality chances."
Since that last meeting, Arizona has asserted itself in the Western Conference playoff race, currently fourth in the Central Division and atop the Wild Card standings.
The Yotes returned from the holiday break Wednesday with a dramatic comeback win, scoring five straight goals to erase a 4-0 deficit and beat the Avalanche in overtime.
“It was a good character win,” forward Jack McBain told team reporter Patrick Brown. “It was the same situation in Colorado, tougher outcome, but they’re a really good team, and going down 4-0 to them is a tough thing to come back from. We stuck in there, [Vejmelka] played great, and obviously it was an amazing comeback.”
A win for Anaheim would capture the season series over Arizona for the eight time in the last 11 years.
