The Ducks (11-4-1) look to get back to their winning ways as they travel east to take on the Red Wings (9-7-0) in Detroit. Puck drop is set for 4:00 p.m. PT and will air on Victory+ and KCOP-13.
This is the second and final meeting of the regular season between these two teams after the Ducks beat the Red Wings, 5-2, on Halloween at Honda Center.
Anaheim’s win streak ended at seven games on Tuesday night after falling to Colorado, 4-1. A bright spot in that game was the continued success of Leo Carlsson who had the team’s lone goal and extended his point streak to 10 games.
“I always thought he was going to be a good player,” Ducks head coach Joel Quenneville said. “I saw him in training camp, and it looked like he did a lot of things well. But every game since then, it’s almost like he’s getting another step on them. He seems like he has the puck more and coming up with loose pucks … We think that he’s been a big part to why we’ve gotten off to a decent start here.”
Former Duck John Gibson is expected to be in the net for this matchup for the second time this season.
Ryan Strome will make his season debut for the Ducks tonight after missing time with an upper body injury. Despite not physically being able to play, Strome was still able to be around his teammates and watch their success this season.
Watching from afar gave him a new perspective on the game and he said he hopes to bring what he learned from the mental side into his physical game.
“You see the skill and speed that we play with and you kind of see the plays developing,” Strome said. “I like to think of myself as a smart hockey mind so hopefully I can take some of what I noticed and bring it into my game. You can’t emulate a game situation, but I’ll try to take all the things I worked on while I was out and all the watching I did.”
Detroit is currently on a three-game losing streak and hasn’t taken the ice since its Sunday loss to Chicago. Dylan Larkin leads Detroit with 19 points while Alex DeBrincat paces the team with 15.
Despite beating them pretty handedly the last time they met, Quenneville called Detroit a “dangerous team” and is looking for how his squad will turn things around after Tuesday’s loss.
“We’re in the middle of a busy stretch here,” he said. “Let’s see if we have a response to [Tuesday’s] game knowing that when you’re on a run like that, that first game after a loss can seem like it would be flat. Let’s respond to that as well.”
