Preview: Ducks Host Coyotes on Women in Sports Night at Honda Center

The Ducks are back on home ice to host a special night at Honda Center, taking on the Arizona Coyotes on the inaugural Women in Sports Night.
PUCK DROP: 7:30 P.M. | TV: BALLY SPORTS SOCAL | DUCKS STREAM | NHL GAMECENTER | GET TICKETS

The night will celebrate trailblazers in women and girls' sports, with the goal of inspiring the next generation of athletes and leaders in the community. As part of Women in Sports Night, the Ducks will raise awareness and funds for Girl Scouts of Orange County through the Anaheim Ducks Foundation. For more on Women in Sports Night, including a sold-out pregame panel featuring.Hall of Fame sportcaster Linda Cohn, three-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor, Angel City FC Club President Julie Uhrman and the youngest commissioner in American professional sports, Lauren Chamberlain,
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On the ice, the Ducks return home after a successful six-game road trip, earning comeback wins in Columbus and Colorado en route to a 3-2-1 overall mark.
"This was a huge game for us,"
head coach Dallas Eakins told NHL.com's Ryan Boulding after the win over the Avalanche
. "I'm not so sure about them, but we talked before the game about [how] we don't have to beat these guys four times in two weeks. We just have to beat them tonight, and that was going to be our measuring stick."
Anaheim showed its resiliency in the win Thursday at Colorado, overcoming a questionable penalty call against John Gibson that led to an Avs power-play goal with a three-goal third-period response to down the defending champs 5-3.

"This road trip has shown what we can do if we stick to our game and our system," said Frank Vatrano, whose third career NHL hat trick powered the Ducks to victory. "It's nice to be rewarded against one of the best teams in the league.
"We only have one more game going into break. It's tough when your team is now playing better than they were in the beginning of the year. For us, it's playing that next game up and seeing what we can do."
With points in four of their last six games (3-2-1), the Ducks improved to 15-29-5 on the season.
"It was a long road trip, and it was great way to end it," Gibson said. "Last period, we just wanted to go out there, give it everything we had, and we were able to battle hard enough and get the result we wanted. It was a good game. We've kind of been resilient all road trip and found ways to win. Wasn't the prettiest, but big win for our group."
The Ducks and Coyotes will renew acquiantances tonight for the second time in four days, after Anaheim earned a convincing
5-2 road victory
Tuesday in its first trip to Mullett Arena. Cam Fowler and Troy Terry led the way offensively with three point nights while Gibson made 41 saves.

"I thought we were direct to their net," Eakins said that night. "I think when you look at the shot clock and you're getting some action there, it has a positive effect on the bench. We were trying to get a lot of pucks to the blue paint. We got a fair amount of action there early."
The Yotes bounced back from that loss to the Ducks on Thursday, routing the Blues 5-0 in their homestand finale. Nick Schmaltz had a four-point night, including a natural hat trick, and Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves for his fourth career shutout.
"'Schmaltzy' was really, really good,"
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny told NHL.com's Alan Robinson
. "We played the right way; we played good defensively and we had great goaltending. St. Louis is dangerous on the rush, and we defended the rush pretty well. And we had an effort from everybody."
Vejmelka, who did not play Tuesday vs. Anaheim, has stopped 68-of-69 shots in his last two starts.
Arizona (16-28-5, 37 points) sits seventh in the Central Division.