Kings, Ducks close in standings as they open home-and-home set
With their nine-game winless streak now in the rearview mirror, the Anaheim Ducks will try for two victories in a row when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night.
The Ducks ended the 0-8-1 skid with a 3-1 victory against the visiting Dallas Stars on Tuesday night, despite being without their top three point-scorers on the season.
Leo Carlsson missed the game with a lower-body injury, Cutter Gauthier sat out with an illness and Troy Terry missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.
Gauthier and Terry returned to practice on Thursday, but Carlsson remains sidelined.
"You see that those guys aren't in the lineup, you've got to give an extra 10% out there," Ducks rookie forward Beckett Sennecke said. "I think everyone did."
The Ducks were stronger on the puck all night against the Stars -- who had defeated the Kings 3-1 the night before in Los Angeles -- and Anaheim was clean with its breakouts, something it lacked during the losing streak.
"You guys could see that when we played the right way we're getting the results," Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal said. "It was a long time coming for us and, hopefully, the dark times are over and we can just build on it."
The Kings will be trying to avoid losing three in a row after they fell 3-2 in overtime against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
Since Dec. 10, the Kings are 5-8-4.
"We've just got to find a way to find a way to try and get the extra point," Los Angeles forward Adrian Kempe said. "Right now, it's not going our way."
The Kings were down four forwards on Wednesday night and it's unclear if any will be back against Anaheim because the Kings did not practice on Thursday.
Corey Perry missed the game because of an illness in the family, something that kept him out two games last week. Anze Kopitar (upper body) and Joel Armia (lower body) have each missed the past five games and Trevor Moore (upper body) the last eight.
Kempe said the Kings need to stay positive.
"We've been playing pretty good hockey in some of these last couple games. We haven't been giving up too much," Kempe said. "Sometimes, it's a bad bounce, sometimes we can't get a bounce, but it's trying to stick with it, keep everyone in a good mindset, keep doing it the right way. If you do it enough over time, I think it's got to switch."
The Kings will travel to Anaheim on Saturday night for the second game of the back-to-back. The Kings were tied in points with the San Jose Sharks for the second wild card from the Western Conference entering Thursday, and two points behind the third-place Kraken in the Pacific Division.
The Ducks, meanwhile, sit just two points behind the Kings.
"You look at where everyone is in the standings, it's you win four games, or even two games, you can jump up four spots," Kempe said. "You play a team in your division, feel like you play a pretty good game and the extra point can be a big difference right now."