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The Ducks and WIld have split two games this season.
The Anaheim Ducks look for their first two-game winning streak in 27 days on Sunday night as they host the Minneosta Wild at Honda Center. Anaheim, who beat the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night 4-3 at home, last won consecutive games when their win over the San Jose Sharks on October 17 was their fourth straight victory.
The Wild have the honor of being the only team to lose to the Ducks on their seven-game road trip, as Anaheim won 3-2 in Minneapolis on October 27. The Ducks lost three of four matchups with the Wild last season, though two of those were in overtime.
Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky broke his finger in Friday's win over Vancouver and is expected to miss four weeks, the Ducks announced on Saturday. Visnovsky has one goal and three assists in 16 games this season. The injury is another blow for Anaheim, who is also without George Parros until December after eye surgery.
"I think we’d like to find more minutes for Lucas Sbisa," Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle told NHL.com on Saturday. "We’ve been consciously trying to do that in some of these games. I think he was up over 15 now [on average]. Now he’s going to bear some more minutes. I think we’d like to look at Sbisa from a defensive side [for] more of those minutes versus offensive minutes."
Sunday's 5 p.m. PST game will be televised by Prime Ticket. For more Ducks hockey news and notes, be sure to read Anaheim Calling.
Ducks Vs. Wild Game Score: Three First-Period Goals Doom Ducks In 3-2 Loss
Anaheim, CA (Sports Network) - The Minnesota Wild scored three first-period goals and got 32 saves from Niklas Backstrom to down the Anaheim Ducks, 3-2. Kyle Brodziak, Matt Cullen and Jared Spurgeon all scored for the Wild, who improved to 2-2-0 on a five-game road trip that ends on Tuesday at Columbus.
Anaheim's Jonas Hiller was pulled after giving up three goals on 15 shots in the first period. Dan Ellis stopped all 11 shots he faced in relief. Cam Fowler scored twice for the Ducks, the second a wrister from the point that got through a screen and found the back of the net with time winding down.
Backstrom, though, stood tall for the remaining 48.5 seconds to seal the win.
Brodziak scored during a goal mouth scrum 6:09 into the opening period, and Cullen added his seventh goal of the season off a nice feed from Cal Clutterbuck with 3:49 remaining in the first Spurgeon netted the eventual game-winner with 28.8 seconds showing with a slap shot from between the circles. Fowler snuck one past Backstrom's glove 2:15 into the second period on a wrister from the left circle.
Game Notes
Neither team scored on the power play, as Anaheim went 0-for-3 and Minnesota failed in four chances with the man advantage...The Ducks posted a 3-2 win in Minnesota on October 27.
For more Ducks hockey news and notes, be sure to read Anaheim Calling.
Nov 13 8:58p by Eric Stephen