Coyotes eye share of first vs. Ducks

The Arizona Coyotes have a chance to move back into a tie for first place in the Pacific Division when they meet the struggling Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night.

The Coyotes (22-16-4) will regain a share of the division lead need if they win and Vegas loses to Philadelphia.

Arizona is coming off a 3-1 win over the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues on New Year's Eve. That game saw the Coyotes break a 1-all tie with Phil Kessel's third-period goal and an empty-netter for Nick Schmaltz.

After two previous games with third-period breakdowns, it was the kind of effort the Coyotes needed to end a three-game losing streak and try to turn around a 9-10-1 home record.

"Listen, no one is panicking ... it was our first three-game losing streak," coach Rick Tocchet said. "We don't really listen to the outside noise. We had to worry about our game, the details of our game. We've played some good parts of the game for a certain amount of time but not sixty-minutes. I'm not saying we played sixty-minutes, I just felt we believed we would win the game and that's what we need, is that belief."

Arizona got 38 saves on 39 shots from goaltender Antti Raanta, who is getting playing time in the absence of injured All-Star Darcy Kuemper. Raanta, who had allowed seven goals in the previous two games, started his third game in four nights on Tuesday.

"It's awesome that (Tocchet) is giving me the games," Raanta said. "Sometimes, you take (losing) a little bit too hard but you want to win so that's how it is, but yeah, for sure, every day you feel much better and you feel confident."

The Ducks (16-19-5) fell 5-2 at Vegas on Tuesday despite 38 saves from John Gibson. Anaheim hasn't won consecutive games since Oct. 29 and Nov. 1 and has lost five of its past seven games, though two were in overtime.

Gibson questioned his team's readiness to play.

"It's frustrating when we go out and we're not ready to play," Gibson told the Orange County Register after Tuesday's game. "It's a privilege to play in the National Hockey League and it feels like some guys are taking it for granted and are just happy to be here. We play a good game every now and then and we can't string it together, put two in a row, can't seem to get points."

A goal credited to Alex Tuch of Vegas actually went off of the Ducks' Josh Manson.

Anaheim earned three points in the previous two meetings with the Coyotes. They beat Arizona in the season opener 2-1 on Oct. 3 and lost 4-3 in an overtime shootout in Glendale, Ariz., on Nov. 27.

"It would be one thing if we had shown all year that we weren't able to play with teams like this, but we have shown that we can," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins told the Register. "It's like if you go out and run a four-minute mile and you show up every day after that and you run a seven-minute mile. Something's wrong because you showed you could do it."

--Field Level Media