Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the Phoenix Coyotes (4-2-1) and the Anaheim Ducks (5-1-0) go head-to-head live from Honda Center. The game can be live streamed here. Phoenix fans can hear all the action on KTAR-FM 92.3 while Anaheim fans can access it on KLAA-AM 830.
These two Pacific Division rivals square off for the first of five meetings tonight with the Ducks having rattled off five straight wins and kicking off a five-game homestand while the Coyotes enter play having gained points in four straight games.
Phoenix is coming off of a game where it blew a two-goal lead and ended up losing in overtime to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, and Radim Vrbata said the team didn't play smart which led to blowing the lead.
"We were lucky to get out of the first period even. Then we got a two-goal lead but we couldn't hang on to it ... They were hungry, they came after us and we didn't respond. Then we got a lead and we didn't play smart," Vrbata told NHL.com.
Vrbata leads the team with four goals and has two assists for six points, which is tied with Martin Hanzal who has one tally and five helpers. Mikkel Boedker and Derek Morris have each chipped in with two goals and three assists for five points.
Rob Klinkhammer has three goals in the past two games for Phoenix coming into the contest.
Meanwhile, Viktor Fasth stopped 34 of 35 shots as Anaheim notched its fifth win in a row Wednesday with a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames that saw Teemu Selanne net his first goal of the season and 676th of his career, though he admits the team could have played better.
"Sometimes you got to be lucky. But to be honest, that was not a very good hockey game from us," Selanne told NHL.com. "It was good that we won. A lot of times, like last year, we won the games when we didn't play really well. But, we just found a way to win again. That's a good thing. But it was not pretty out there, especially the third period. Viktor stole the points for us."
Fasth has a 2-1-0 record with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .887 save percentage and is part of a formidable 1-2 punch for Anaheim along with Jonas Hiller, who has yet to lose this season and is 3-0-0 with a 1.30 GAA and a .959 save percentage.
Phoenix's Mike Smith, meanwhile, is 3-2-1 thus far with a 3.17 GAA and a .905 save percentage.
Smith will try to stop some of Anaheim's snipers which include Jakob Silfverberg who has a team-high four goals and two assists for six points along with Corey Perry (3-3-6), and Ryan Getzlaf (2-3-5).
Anaheim will look to notch six wins in a row while Phoenix will try to take two more points in order to come away with points in five straight games when the puck drops in Anaheim tonight.
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