• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hurricanes-Ducks Preview

Nov 25, 2009 - 7:23 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Carolina (5-13-5) at Anaheim (8-11-3), 10:00 p.m. EDT

The Anaheim Ducks are far from last season's form, but they're moving in the right direction.

The Ducks look to continue a successful homestand Wednesday night, when they take on a Carolina Hurricanes team still seeking its first road victory.

Anaheim (8-13-3) pushed the Detroit Red Wings to seven games in last season's Western Conference semifinals, but the Ducks opened 2009-10 with seven losses in 10 games.

After losing five of six at the Honda Center to begin the season, Anaheim is 5-2-0 on home ice following Monday's 3-2 shootout win over Calgary.

Teemu Selanne scored the lone shootout goal and goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 41 shots as the Ducks moved out of the Western Conference basement and ahead of Minnesota in the standings.

"It's been a long time, but it feels good to win," said Giguere, who was 0-3-2 with a 3.38 goals-against average heading into Monday's game. "I'll soak it in here for the next 10 minutes. I'm really excited we got the win, and everybody in the dressing room is. If it would have gone the other way around, it would have been a pretty big blow to our team."

After stopping 17 third-period shots, Giguere allowed a goal with 18 seconds left in regulation to Flames captain Jarome Iginla.

"We were under siege pretty much for the whole third period," coach Randy Carlyle said after his team improved to 2-1-0 on its homestand. "We basically let them come back at us. Our goaltender made a bunch of big league stops to keep the score 2-1."

The last time Anaheim hosted Carolina, Giguere stopped 21 shots in a 3-1 loss on Oct. 19, 2008.

The Ducks have dropped two straight at home to the Hurricanes since a 3-2 victory on Feb. 4, 2004.

Anaheim could snap that skid if Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf continue at their current pace. Perry assisted on Bobby Ryan's first-period goal Monday to extend his career-best point scoring streak to 15 games. Perry, who has nine goals and 21 points during this stretch, needs a point in each of his next two games to match Selanne's franchise-record point streak set in 1999.

Perry, though, was scoreless as Anaheim went 1-1-0 against Carolina in 2008-09.

Getzlaf had a goal and two assists versus the Hurricanes last season - all coming in a 4-1 win at Carolina on Nov. 30. Getzlaf, who is among the league leaders with 22 assists, scored in Monday's victory, giving him three goals in his last five games. He scored one goal in his first 17 contests this season.

The Hurricanes (5-13-5), who are last in the NHL in scoring (2.17 goals), are looking to rebound from Monday's 2-0 loss at Dallas. Coming off its best five-game stretch (3-0-2) of the season, Carolina was shut out for the fourth time as it fell to 0-8-3 on the road.

"Goals are tough to come by in this league the way it is," Hurricanes forward Ray Whitney said of his second-period goal that was waved off after it was ruled he kicked the puck onto his stick.

Carolina will get some help on the offensive end Wednesday with the return of center Eric Staal. The 25-year-old missed 10 games with an upper body injury sustained Nov. 1 against San Jose. He had three goals and two assists in 13 games before getting hurt.

Manny Legace made 27 saves Monday. He is 2-2-1 with a 3.11 GAA in five starts since being signed Nov. 9 to replace the injured Cam Ward (leg laceration).

Legace is 11-2-1 with a tie in his career versus the Ducks, who are seeking their 300th victory at the Honda Center.