The Arizona Coyotes have won three of four games against the Anaheim Ducks this season, but the final matchup of the season on Thursday night will bring together two teams moving in opposite directions.
The Ducks are the hottest team in the league and arrive in Glendale with a nine-game winning streak. The Coyotes, meanwhile, are fresh off an 0-5 road trip and have lost their last six.
The game can be seen on FOX Sports Arizona Plus, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Monday's 6-0 loss at Pittsburgh capped a winless five-game trip that dropped the Coyotes to 5-14-2 since Jan. 14. They lost their third-leading point scorer when they traded eighth-year veteran Mikkel Boedker to Colorado hours before the defeat.
"It's really difficult," forward Shane Doan said. "(The trade) doesn't really matter. We were horrendous."
Veteran Alex Tanguay came over in the Boedker deal and practiced with his new teammates for the first time Wednesday, skating on a line with Antoine Vermette and Anthony Duclair. The 36-year-old had four goals and 18 assists in 52 games with the Avalanche.
Arizona sits eight points behind Minnesota for the West's final playoff spot and needs an Anaheim-like hot streak to get back in the hunt.
"I'll have the same approach I've always had - take it one game at a time and prepare as best as possible," Tanguay said. "I'm happy. There's a lot of talent here. There's a lot of young guys and a good mix of veterans.
"I've been playing an offensive role for a long, long time and I haven't had the best of years, but I feel good."
Even if Tanguay can help lift an offense that scored seven times during the trip, Louis Domingue will have to be better in net. He's posted a 4.04 goals-against average while starting each game during the losing streak and now has to contend with the red-hot Ducks, who have outscored opponents 33-18 during their winning streak.
"It's pretty tough to come to the rink right now, but we had a really good practice today," defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson told ArizonaCoyotes.com on Wednesday. "Hopefully we can bring that energy to the game.
"We need to get better. That's what it's all about now. We can't focus on how many games we have left, we just have to focus on the next game. We have a lot to play for."
Ekman-Larsson leads the Coyotes in assists (29), points (48) and power-play goals (12). Doan is the top goal-scorer with 23, but rookie Anthony Duclair has five goals in the four games against the Ducks.
Anaheim (35-19-8) sat 16 points out of the Pacific Division lead six weeks ago and was just beginning to recover from a dismal start to the season after being a popular pick to make a deep postseason run.
The Ducks the season by scoring 10 goals in its first 10 games, losing nine of them while becoming the league's early disappointment after finishing a victory short of reaching the Stanley Cup Final in 2014-15.
The Ducks lost to Los Angeles on Jan. 17 and the Kings extended their lead to 16 points with a victory on the 19th, but Anaheim won the next day to begin a 16-1-1 stretch.
Corey Perry scored the tying goal in the third before Jakob Silfverberg scored the only goal in the shootout to beat Montreal 3-2 on Wednesday.
Jamie McGinn scored in his debut for Anaheim, which tied idle Los Angeles for the division lead and is adding to a remarkable story as the postseason nears.
"We dug ourselves a hole early. It's nice to see where we've come," said Perry, who has a team-leading 27 goals. "But at the end of the day, you still have 20 games left. You have to go out and keep pushing."
The Coyotes won the first three meetings over the first six weeks of the season before the Ducks broke through with a win in Anaheim on Feb. 5.
John Gibson made 25 saves in Wednesday's win for the Ducks, who could choose to go with Frederik Andersen in this one. Andersen is 10-0-1 with a 1.89 GAA over his starts since Jan. 13 and made 23 saves to beat the Coyotes in the last meeting.
