Road Troubles
Edmonton – After going more than five weeks without a regulation road loss earlier this season, the Ducks are still seeking their first point away from Anaheim this month.
It may not get any easier as they open a five-game road trip without starting goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere in a city where they’ve had little success lately.
The Anaheim Ducks look to avoid their fourth straight road loss on Friday when they meet the Edmonton Oilers.
Oddsmakers from Online Sportsbook Sportsbook.com have made the Ducks –115 money line favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Oilers. Current NHL Public Betting Information shows that 68% of more than 197 bets for this game have been placed on the Ducks -115.
Anaheim (17-12-3) opened the season losing its first two road games, but quickly turned things around to go 7-0-1 in its next eight away from the Honda Center. The Ducks have been unable to carry that success into December however, getting outscored 8-3 in losing their three road games this month.
Anaheim has been relying on its home ice lately, but a 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Tuesday snapped a five-game home winning streak.
Turnovers by Anaheim defensemen Kent Huskins and Scott Niedermayer inside the Ducks zone led to two of the Rangers’ scores.
"Turnovers are killing us right now," Chris Pronger told the team’s official Web site. "It kills our momentum and our speed through the neutral zone. We’ve got to get through neutral zone better and cleaner, so that we can get in on the forecheck and get turnovers ourselves."
Ducks backup Jonas Hiller made 27 saves on Tuesday in place of Giguere, whose father, Claude, died in Canada on Monday. Giguere is attending his father’s funeral, but is expected to be back for Monday’s game in Vancouver.
Hiller has not had much luck lately, posting a 2.46 goals-against average in losing all four of his starts this month after going 5-0-0 with a 1.39 GAA and two shutouts in seven games in November.
Hiller made his first start of the season versus Edmonton on Oct. 15, and finished with 25 saves in a 3-2 loss.
The Ducks have lost four of their last five overall games against the Oilers, and have dropped 14 of 16 games in Edmonton since 1999-2000.
The Oilers, though, haven’t been a very good home team lately, winning only two of their last nine games (2-5-2) at Rexall Place, including an embarrassing 9-2 loss to Chicago on Tuesday. That was followed by a 4-2 defeat at Vancouver on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s game was lost in the second period, when the Canucks scored three times – twice on the power play – and outshot Oilers 13-4.
Edmonton’s penalty killing has been a problem all season, ranking second-to-last in the league (73.5 percent). The Oilers have not had much success on the power play either, going 2-for-20 in their last four games.
"We have to get our specialty teams to an elite level to get the success we want around here," defenseman Steve Staios said. "That’s just too important, and we aren’t anywhere close to where we need to be, especially on the penalty kill.”
Dwayne Roloson stopped 24 shots Wednesday, and has yielded seven goals in his last two games after posting a 1.32 GAA in winning his previous three.
Mathieu Garon hasn’t been any better lately, going 2-7-0 with a 3.90 GAA since Oct. 23, but has had success against Anaheim. He is 4-1-0 with a 1.40 GAA and one shutout in his last five games against the Ducks, including a 33-save performance at the Honda Center on Oct. 15.
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Posted: 12/19/08 12:30 AM ET