Ducks vs. Coyotes GAMETHREAD: Happy and Sad Streaks

Game #42

Anaheim Ducks vs. Arizona Coyotes

Friday January 6th, 2017 7:00 PM PST

Honda Center

TV: FSW

Radio: AM 830, AnaheimDucks.com

Your Enemy: Five For Howling

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The Ducks will clash with the Coyotes for the second time this season looking to match their season-high 3 game win streak. The team is currently tied with the San Jose Sharks at the top of the Pacific Division standings despite effectively being a .500 team (thanks OT points!).

Captain Ryan Getzlaf skated on his own prior to the Ducks optional morning skate and reportedly made progress, but appears to likely be out of the lineup for the 2nd straight game.

It also appears as though John Gibson will get his seventh straight start tonight. Gibson has been on fire recently, hence Randy Carlyle going with the hot hand in an attempt to get the Ducks on their first significant win streak of the season.

Meanwhile, the Coyotes are mired in an 8 game losing streak. The team has not played horribly over the last few games, but the lack of solid defensive play outside of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and recently injured youngster Anthony DeAngelo along with the inconsistency of goaltender Mike Smith have not allowed a young and talented Arizaona offensive corps a chance to win games.

Smith will be the player to watch, however. As inconsistent as he has been this season, the games in which he is on he takes to another level. It seems to be all or nothing for the veteran netminder, so the Ducks will be hoping that he doesn't hulk out tonight.

Stat Pack

Numbers For Nerds

What's up with Corey Perry? Is he now entering the twilight of his career? Will we ever see him score 30+ goals again? Did he fall down trying to get past a defender and now needs Life Alert to help him get up?

It's not like he hasn't been producing at all. Perry has shown off his underrated playmaking ability much more this season with 22 assists to go with his 7 goals for a total of 29 points in 40 games played. But you can argue that playmaking is not necessarily his job on this team. His job is to be a goal-scorer.

The potential good news is that Perry is currently the owner of a horrendous shooting percentage with just 6.3% of his shots resulting in goals. For reference, the league average is right around 9%. Perry's career shooting percentage is a whopping 13.3%. He hasn't had a season under 15% since the 2012-2013 season.

Usually a low shooting percentage indicates a degree of bad luck. Fortunately, the laws of statistical regression indicate that Perry's shooting percentage should spike significantly sooner rather than later given his numbers. The Ducks are going to need it to if they want to make a deep playoff run this spring.