After finishing off a seven-game road trip, the slumping Anaheim Ducks return home Wednesday night to face the Nashville Predators at Honda Center. Anaheim has lost five straight games and eight of their last nine games, and has fallen into a tie for 13th place in the Western Conference with 13 points and a 5-6-3 record.
The Ducks lost 3-0 to the Predators in Nashville on October 29, the first loss of their current five-game skid. In that game, Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin leveled Mike Fisher with a hard hit, and Jen Neale at Anaheim Calling expects fireworks on the ice Wednesday night:
Fisher, and much of the Nashville media and fanbase, not surprisingly expected the league to review the hit, which they did, but ultimately decided that Beauchemin was executing a full body check that had incidental head contact. Fisher and everyone in Nashville was shocked at the league's decision to not discipline Beauch further. I'm sure that Beauch is going to be on the radar of new Predators enforcer (former Crunch/Duck), Brian McGrattan. McGrattan is a pretty nasty fighter, but Beauch can hold his own, if necessary. With George Parros out four weeks, the enforcer duties will likely fall to Sheldon Brookbank, and getting Brookbank off the ice for a scrap is less costly than Beauchemin.
Tuesday night is the second of four meetings between Anaheim and Nashville this season. Anaheim is 3-2 at home this season, including 2-2 at Honda Center. One of their "home" games was October 8 in Stockholm, Sweden, a win over the New York Rangers.
Wednesday's 7 p.m. PST game will be televised by Prime Ticket. For more news and information on Ducks hockey, be sure to read Anaheim Calling.