The Ducks (14-7-1) take on the Canucks (9-12-2) for the first time this season in the fifth of the team’s six-game homestand.
Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. PT and will air exclusively on Victory+.
Anaheim won in thrilling fashion with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Golden Knights on Saturday. The overtime goal came courtesy of Cutter Gauthier, who capitalized on a fumbled puck by Mitch Marner to give Gauthier the third overtime goal of his career.
“I saw a pizza right up the middle, and I tried to turn around and shoot it,” Gauthier said. “I didn’t really know what was going on, but I don’t think the goalie did either, and I’m thankful that puck went in.”
In Saturday’s game, the team overcame a two-goal deficit for the third time this season to win three of their last four.
“I liked the way we competed,” said head coach Joel Quenneville. “I thought we bounced back in that game. When the game was on the line in the third, I thought we played real smart hockey, and we did a good job in the overtime period.”
With two home games remaining in this six-game homestand, Ducks players noted how special the Honda Center crowd has been and credited the fans for giving them the boost to never give up.
“I don’t think we could come back in that game without the energy in the building,” Troy Terry said. “We could feel it. (The fans) deserved for us to do something.”
Tonight’s game against Vancouver is the first time all season the Ducks will go into a game with three days off. Qunneveille said he’s looking forward to seeing how his team begins this game, knowing they haven’t always gotten off to the fastest starts at times this year.
“It’ll be an interesting response for us knowing our starts have been concerning some nights, but I think that we want to make sure we get off to a good beginning here,” Quenneville said.
The Canucks have lost three-straight, but both Quenneville and Ducks players alike know they can’t look past this “highly skilled” team, especially knowing it’s a divisional opponent.
“We’re going to try and take away the time and space from them and try to play as much of the 60 minutes as we can,” mentioned Radko Gudas. “If we can take away space and time from them, I believe it’s going to work in our favor to have the puck more than them.”
Per Quenneville, Petr Mrázek will get the start in the net for Anaheim as Lukáš Dostál is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
