(SportsNetwork.com) - The Anaheim Ducks resume a lengthy homestand on Wednesday night looking for their first victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in over six years.
The Ducks have lost six in a row versus the Leafs, having not beaten them since Oct. 21, 2008 in Toronto. That skid includes a 6-2 road setback on Dec. 16, when James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel each had one goal and an assist to lead Toronto.
Jonathan Bernier made 40 saves for the Leafs, while Frederik Andersen was pulled in the third period for giving up four goals on 20 shots in defeat. Ilya Bryzgalov yielded two more goals on seven shots.
That victory was Toronto's sixth in a row and snapped a seven-game winning streak for Anaheim, but the Maple Leafs have lost nine of 12 since and will play their fourth game tonight under interim coach Peter Horachek since he took over for the fired Randy Carlyle.
Toronto dropped the opener of a four-game road trip on Monday, falling 2-0 to the Los Angeles Kings.
Bernier made 19 saves and only allowed one goal, which came 37 seconds into the game on a shot by Anze Kopitar that hit off the in-goal camera and right out. Play continued for about a minute until a stoppage and the officials awarded Kopitar the goal after a review.
"We have to look at the positives and our game lately has been much better," Bernier said.
Bernier is 5-1-1 with a 2.01 goals against average and .930 save percentage in seven games (6 starts) lifetime versus the Ducks. With the Leafs set to visit San Jose on Thursday, it is unknown if Bernier will start tonight or if backup James Reimer will face the Ducks for the first time in his career.
The Ducks are 4-2-0 on an eight-game homestand, having rallied to beat the Winnipeg Jets 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday. Anaheim trailed by two goals late, but Kyle Palmieri scored on the power play at 6:25 of the third and Rickard Rakell capped a big night with a game-tying goal with 2:03 to go in regulation.
Sami Vatanen then had the deciding goal in the sixth round of the shootout to cap a night in which Anaheim retired the No. 8 jersey of Teemu Selanne.
Andersen made 28 saves for the Ducks, while Rakell matched a club record for most points in a game by a rookie with four. He scored twice and added a pair of assists to match the mark set by Stanislav Chistov (1 goal, 3 assists) on Oct. 10, 2002 and matched by Ryan Getzlaf (4 assists) on March 24, 2006.
"It was one of those games where we couldn't get anything going right off the bat," said Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau. "But if you believe you can come back, and you can do the right things, you always have a chance."
The Ducks close out their homestand on Friday versus the New Jersey Devils and will likely start Andersen tonight. He has lost two previous starts versus the Leafs with a 4.07 GAA and .837 save percentage.
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