SoCal NHL Preview

St Louis (29-31-11) at Anaheim (40-25-8), 7:00 pm

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - The defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks have been tough at home, which means the St. Louis Blues' nightmare road trip could get worse. The Ducks aim to extend their franchise best eight-game winning streak on Saturday when the host the slumping Blues.

Todd Marchant tallied and assisted on another goal, while rookie Jonas Hiller stopped 30 shots in a 4-1 win over Vancouver here on Wednesday. Anaheim, which is one point back of Dallas (42-26-5) and four points behind San Jose (42-21-8) for first place in the Pacific Division, is currently 24-8-4 at home. The Ducks' home dominance is only topped by the Detroit Red Wings, who have a league-best 25 home wins. That is bad news for the Blues, who are 0-4-1 in their franchise record nine-game road trip.

St. Louis, which is 1-9-2 in its last 12 games, allowed four first-period goals in a 4-1 loss to San Jose on Friday. David Backes scored the lone goal as the Blues, who have dropped a season-high nine straight road games. St. Louis' 69 points are second worst in the Western Conference behind Los Angeles (62). The Blues have had success against Anaheim though, taking two of the last three meetings. They are looking for their first season series win since going 2-0-1 in 2003-04.