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Road-challenged Ducks shoot for win in San Jose

Dec 26, 2011 - 4:18 PM (Sports Network) - Exactly half of the Ducks' road wins this season have come versus the Sharks.

Anaheim looks to snap a 13-game winless stretch on the road tonight, but in order to do so it will need to snap San Jose's run of five straight victories at HP Pavilion.

The Ducks are 0-9-4 on the road since a victory at Minnesota on Oct. 27. That win came 10 days after a victory in San Jose and Anaheim is just 2-10-5 as the visiting team this season.

The embattled road club wraps a five-game swing tonight and began the jaunt with three straight regulation setbacks prior to a 3-2 shootout defeat at Los Angeles on Thursday.

Dustin Brown buried a heavy shot past Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller to put his team in front in the shootout and Kyle Palmieri couldn't extend the bonus time as his wrister was stopped.

"We played solid tonight, but it was the little things that cost us," said Hiller, who made 32 saves. "I've got to do a better job in the shootout. Those extra points can make the difference in making the playoffs."

The postseason appears to be a longshot at this point. Anaheim is last in the Pacific and 14th out of 15 teams in the Western Conference with 24 points, 16 behind the conference's eighth spot.

Niklas Hagman and Lubomir Visnovsky each had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who fell to 2-6-2 since Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach and have lost 15 of their last 18 overall.

Hiller made 31 saves to post a shutout in a 1-0 home win over the Sharks on Oct. 14 before Teemu Selanne scored twice to help the Ducks pick up their 3-2 win at San Jose three days later. That pushed Anaheim's series winning streak to three in a row over the Sharks and was just their second victory in the past seven at San Jose.

The Sharks will look to avenge that loss at HP Pavilion and stay perfect so far on their six-game homestand. San Jose has won the first four contests of the residency, picking up a 2-1 shootout win over the Kings on Friday.

Ryane Clowe scored in the fourth round of the shootout, beating Los Angeles goaltender Jonathan Quick with a wrister. Antti Niemi then came up with a stop on the Kings' Mike Richards to up San Jose's home record to 12-6-1.

"I thought both goaltenders were real sharp," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said. "They both played well and both goaltenders played well in the shootout."

Logan Couture scored San Jose's lone goal in regulation, his team-leading 15th of the season, while Niemi made 28 saves in the Sharks' fourth straight win since losing three in a row and five of six. It is one off their season-high five-game win streak from Oct. 21-29.

San Jose is tied for first in the Pacific Division with Dallas with 41 points each. The Sharks played their second straight game without Martin Havlat, who is out indefinitely due to a hamstring injury.