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First-place Canucks visit lowly Ducks

Dec 29, 2011 - 4:09 PM (Sports Network) - The Vancouver Canucks were able to come out on top last night in a battle of first-place teams. Their next challenge is finding the strength to challenge an Anaheim Ducks club that is near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

The Canucks seek a third straight victory in tonight's meeting at Anaheim, where the Ducks begin a six-game homestand.

Vancouver, who lead the Northwest Division by two points over Minnesota, visited the Pacific-leading San Jose Sharks last night and left town with a 3-2 overtime victory.

Andrew Ebbett played the hero again as the forward followed up his first career two-goal game with an overtime winner after tipping in a Kevin Bieksa shot with 1:37 left in the extra frame.

Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin each had a goal for the Canucks, who have won five of their last six. Roberto Luongo made 33 stops in the win.

"It was a pretty intense game out there tonight," said Luongo of the battle between two first-place teams. "There wasn't much room out there and guys were mixing it up."

The Ducks hope that the Canucks have tired legs tonight as they try to win consecutive games for the first time since a four-game win streak from Oct. 8-17.

Anaheim salvaged the finale of a five-game road trip on Monday by notching a 3-2 win at San Jose. The victory was the Ducks' first on the road since Oct. 27, snapping a 13-game winless streak as the guest. Of the Ducks' three road wins this year, two have come versus the Sharks.

Jonas Hiller made 36 saves to help the Ducks snap a four-game slide overall. Luca Sbisa, Andrew Cogliano and Bobby Ryan all scored in the win.

"It's a huge, important thing to leave the building feeling good," Ryan said.

Anaheim is 8-3-3 in its last 14 versus the Canucks, including a 4-3 victory at home on Nov. 11 in the first meeting of the season between the clubs. Hiller stopped 38 shots and both Cogliano and Corey Perry were among four different goal scorers.

Jannik Hansen scored twice for the Canucks and Sedin had two assists.