The Anaheim Ducks will host the Tampa Bay Lightning for a New Year’s Eve matinee at Honda Center. The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on Victory+ and FOX 11.
Anaheim enters the matchup following a 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks, marking their third consecutive defeat. Troy Terry scored twice for the Ducks, while Pavel Mintyukov and Cutter Gauthier added one goal each.
“It was a tough one,” said head coach Joel Quenneville. “I thought we did a lot of good things and chased the game, but we gave ourselves a chance, and we chipped away, chipped away, and just a little short at the end. I thought it was a good response from what we were going into today’s game, and two points was what the ultimate prize. There’s a lot of positives coming out of it.”
Cutter Gauthier also commented on the team’s effort: “I think as a whole, we played a really good game. Thought we had a really good second and third period, but their goalie played a really good game, and it’s just unfortunate you have some games like that, and you just have to keep the positive mindset that we did our fundamentals and just didn’t come up with enough goals.”
During Monday’s game against San Jose, Anaheim recorded 42 shots on goal while limiting their opponent to only 13 shots—the fewest they have allowed since October 2014. This marked only the sixth time in franchise history that Anaheim held an opponent to 13 or fewer shots in one game.
Young players continue to make significant contributions for Anaheim. Mintyukov has scored five goals in 34 games this season; last year he had five goals across 68 games. Gauthier leads the team with 19 goals so far this season.
Currently, Anaheim sits third in the Pacific Division standings behind Edmonton and Las Vegas with all three teams separated by just two points.
Tampa Bay arrives at Honda Center riding a four-game winning streak after recently defeating Montreal in a shootout. Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay with 49 points (17 goals, 32 assists), while Jake Guentzel and Brandon Hagel share the team lead in goals with 18 each. Hagel returned to action Sunday after missing four games due to injury.
The last meeting between these teams took place in late October when Tampa Bay secured a narrow win over Anaheim.
