The set-up: The 11-8-4 Anaheim Ducks visit the 10-11-2 Vancouver Canucks Thursday night. Vancouver opened the season with a four-game homestand and went 4-0 but then suffered a nine-game losing drought (0-8-1) before righting the ship with back-to-back wins, giving them a 6-3-1 run in its last 10. The Ducks also enter on a two-game winning streak and finished the month of November 8-4-2.

Anaheim: Captain Ryan Getzlaf has 18 points and a club-best 16 assists, tying him for the team lead in points with Kesler (8 & 10) and Perry (4 & 14). Goaltender John Gibson matched a career-high with 39 saves in Tuesday's 2-1 win over the Canadiens and is expected to be in goal tonight (7-7-3, 2.52 GAA & .912 save percentage).

Vancouver: The Canucks have played well as of late, despite being ravaged by injuries to key defensemen Alex Edler (finger) and Chris Tanev (ankle) plus winger Jannik Hansen (ribs). Also paying dividends are winger Sven Baertschi (3-7 10 points), playing his second full NHL season and center Bo Horvat (8-8 16 points), a third-year player. They formed an effective line with veteran winger Alex Burrows (4-5 9 points). "I like that line," Desjardins said. "That line has been good, and (Horvat) is a real catalyst on that line -- he's a real driver. He comes with speed and he comes hard and every shift he is like that. It's been a good line for us."

The pick: Anaheim has won 12 of its last 17 versus Vancouver and Canucks goalie Ryan Miller owns just a 4-7-1 mark with a 2.82 goals-against average versus the Ducks. Anaheim's Gibson is off a big game and considering that neither team does much scoring in this situation (Anaheim's averaging 2.18 GPG on the road and Vancouver is averaging 2.42 GPG at home), the Under is an 8* play.