Carolina Hurricanes eye another victory as they travel to play Anaheim Ducks – NHL Preview
Slowly and steadily, Carolina Hurricanes is improving, but it is still hard to tell whether the players are confident enough to build on the momentum and beat Anaheim Ducks in a National Hockey League (NFL) game on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, at Honda Center,
Anaheim, California.
The game will start at 10.00 p.m. ET.
After playing 54 games, Carolina is placed at the bottom of the NHL Eastern Conference with 49 points.
However, it has recently defeated two very competent teams of the Eastern and Western Conference, Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.
Boston was completely outclassed (3-0) as goalie, Cam Ward, made 47 saves to get his third shutout of the season.
Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu and Brandon Sutter scored a goal each in the first, second and third quarter respectively.
Los Angeles gave Carolina a tough time, but still could not beat the surging Hurricanes.
After scoring in the first period, Kings conceded a goal each in the second and third quarter to lose the game.
After the victory, Ward said:
"They came out ready to play, and it seemed like they had a step on us in the first period."
He added:
“We weren't too pleased with it after the first intermission, but once again, we were able to turn it around. We knew that they had some travel, so we made it difficult on them in the second and third."
Hurricanes can stretch the winning streak to three as the Ducks are not in a good form lately.
Anaheim has lost three of its last five games and defeated Calgary Flames to snap its two-game losing streak.
Ducks dominated Calgary in the first period by scoring two goals, but Anaheim conceded a goal each in the next two quarters and went into overtime, which remained goalless and the game was forced to shootout.
After the long session of the shootout, Anaheim finally emerged victorious.
The positive factor of Ducks’ side is its in-form offensive unit.
Even Hurricanes’ coach, Kirk Muller, also considers it a threat for his team.
He said of Ducks:
“Their top guys are their best players, and they're playing a lot. When your best players are your best players, you're going to start winning games."
Anaheim is ranked at 13th spot in the Western Conference with 48 points after 52 games.
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