Carolina @ Anaheim preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 30, 2018 ) Anaheim 2, Carolina 1

The Anaheim Ducks have been one of the hottest teams in the league over the last three weeks and will try to extend their winning streak to six games when the scuffling Carolina Hurricanes pay a visit Friday night. The Ducks have won seven of the last eight games, including a 2-1 overtime victory at Carolina last Friday, and own at least a point in nine of 10 following a 4-2 triumph against Chicago on Wednesday.

“Our first period was really good,” Anaheim forward Jakob Silfverberg told reporters after scoring his 99th NHL goal Wednesday. “We were playing with a lot of confidence. That comes from building off earlier games knowing we’re playing really good right now. That’s a big boost for the whole team. We need to keep it going.” The Ducks go after their sixth straight win in the series against the Hurricanes, who have managed one goal on the first two legs of their three-game California trip. Carolina had 34 shots in the 2-0 loss at league-worst Los Angeles on Sunday and outshot San Jose 40-23 on Wednesday only to drop a 5-1 decision for a third consecutive setback overall. “I feel like we’re pretty much doing everything we can. We’re getting enough opportunities,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters. “The hard part is we’re going to have to stick together and stick with the game plan because it’s easy to go away when it’s not working at all as far as the results.”

TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Carolinas, Prime Ticket (Anaheim)

ABOUT THE HURRICANES (12-11-4): Veteran center Jordan Staal left Wednesday’s game with an upper-body injury and is questionable, while leading goal scorer Micheal Ferland (11) likely will miss his fourth straight contest with a concussion. The good news Wednesday was the return of defenseman Brett Pesce, who had two shots in 15:06 of ice time after missing nine games with a lower-body injury. Sebastian Aho leads the team in scoring with 26 points, but managed one in his past five contests, and fellow forward Teuvo Teravainen (18 points) has been kept off the scoresheet the last five games.

ABOUT THE DUCKS (15-10-5): Right wing Ondrej Kase scored the game-winning goal Wednesday and has four to go along with four assists in his last nine games after going scoreless in his first three contests this season. Captain Ryan Getzlaf was left off the scoresheet Wednesday, but had a plus-3 rating and leads the team with 22 points to pull within three of 900 in his career. Center Adam Henrique notched an assist against Chicago to extend his point streak to six games while forward Pontus Aberg (team-high nine goals), a waiver pickup, set up a score Wednesday to give him seven points over the past five contests.

OVERTIME

1. Anaheim G John Gibson turned aside 33 shots to beat Carolina last week and is 4-1-0 all-time against the Hurricanes.

2. Carolina D Dougie Hamilton has assists in two of the last three contests and leads the team with 100 shots on net.

3. Ducks F Daniel Sprong scored his first goal of the season Wednesday in his first game with the team after being acquired from Pittsburgh.

PREDICTION: Ducks 3, Hurricanes 2