Preview: Ducks Shoot for Third Straight Win, Host Avs at Honda Center

The Ducks will vie for a third straight victory in their final home game before the holidays, hosting the Colorado Avalanche at Honda Center.

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Anaheim tonight looks for its third straight win after a thrilling 3-2 comeback victory Wednesday over the league-leading Winnipeg Jets. The Ducks trailed by a goal late in the third period, but would pull even on Frank Vatrano's ninth of the season, a point shot deflected in off a Winnipeg skater. Vatrano then found himself in the middle of the game-winning goal too, forcing a Jets turnover that linemate Troy Terry buried with 26 seconds to play.

"Sometimes that is how hockey is, you get the bounces at the right time," Vatrano said. "Penalty kill came up big with under five (minutes left) and we found a way to win this game. I thought we played a good 60 minutes as a whole team, so it’s a group effort tonight."

"I thought the first two periods were like textbook hockey for the way we were supposed to play in terms of moving the puck early and keeping it simple," head coach Greg Cronin said. "I thought we stuck to our plan...They’re a team that makes you pay if you turn it over and give them odd man rushes, so as we got the game back it was a humongous kill at the end there. So, credit [assistant coach Brent Thompson] and the penalty killing, and a timely great goal by Terry at the end."

Anaheim limited Winnipeg, and its third-ranked offense, to eight shots on goal through the first two periods.

"These guys are young, they are learning, and this is a win that should give them a lot of confidence," Cronin said. "It is a team win and we can build off of it."

The win also marked another big night for Vatrano, who now co-leads the team in goals, with Terry, and ranks second in scoring.

"It’s no secret how good of a shooter he is, but the little things that he does just makes me and [Ryan Strome's] life easier," Terry said. "That was his stick at the end, too, that got a piece of it. Everything he does, his forechecking, he gets pucks back for me, he creates space for me, he’s physical. He’s really the perfect teammate, honestly. I mean, he blocks shots, he hits, he skates hard and I think he had a lot of good karma coming his way because maybe they weren’t going in at the start of the year. It’s good to see some bounce his way."

Meanwhile on the bench tonight is a Colorado team on the second half of a back-to-back after earning a 4-2 win last night in San Jose. The Avs trailed 2-1 early in the third period, but would get a power-play goal from Mikko Rantanen and a pair at even-strength from Joel Kiviranta to earn the club's 19th win of the season.

"First period, especially, I thought we were shooting the puck, created lots of chances," Colorado coach Jared Bednar told NHL.com's Max Miller. "Second period wasn't as good. I thought they took it over a little bit in the second. But I liked our third again. I thought we got back to what we were doing in the first period. I thought our penalty kill [came] up huge."

Colorado (19-15-0, 38 points) sits fourth in the Central Division.