The Phoenix Coyotes will begin the second portion of their season tonight when they take on the Anaheim Ducks at Jobing.com Arena. Phoenix enters this game with five victories in their past seven games, including three straight wins at Jobing.com Arena; and are looking to improve their winning streak to 6. Having lost 7 of their past 11 games, the Ducks are hoping to prevent their 3rd consecutive loss.In their last game prior to the start of the All Star break, the Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 at Jobing.com Arena. Enver Lisin scored two third period goals to lift the Coyotes over the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Keith Yandle, Olli Jokinen, Ed Jovanovski, and Derek Morris all contributed goals for the Coyotes as well (24-19-5).
Anaheim (23-21-5) has struggled through-out the month of January, entering the All-Star break having lost 7 of 11 games, including four of their past five. Despite this, the Ducks are only 2 points behind the Coyotes, who currently hold the 5th spot in the Western Conference standings. The Ducks are currently tied with Edmonton and Vancouver for the 6th playoff spot. With 53 points and 34 games left in the season, the Coyotes need to earn 42 of 68 possible points in order to reach the 95-point mark that Head Coach Wayne Gretzky has identified as the minimum needed to make the playoffs.
Notes & Quotes
*Ryan Getzlaf leads the Ducks in goals (17) & assists (39) in 48 games.
*Defenseman Kurt Sauer (lower body) and rookie Viktor Tikhonov (upper body) are out for the Coyotes.
*Teemu Selanne (lacerated calf muscle), Francois Beauchemin (torn ACL), Kent Huskins (fractured foot) and Todd Marchant (broken finger) all have missed games for the Ducks.
*Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov is expected to start for the Coyotes. Bryzgalov has started the team’s past seven games and has gone 5-2-0 in that stretch. It is unknown if Jean-Sebastien Giguere will be starting for the Ducks.
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“We know what they are capable of,” All-Star Captain Shane Doan said of Anaheim. “We know in the end that it’s going to come down to battles and playing physical. It’s a huge game.”
"As a team, we've had our ups and downs and we're not where we want to be right now," Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said prior to starting Sunday's All-Star game. "We'd like to be a little higher in the standings, and we know we have to play better."
The puck drops at 7:00pm MST. This game will be broadcast locally in Phoenix on FS-A and in Anaheim on PRIME.
♥ -The Diva
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