Game Notes

The Vancouver Canucks did very little to slow down the Anaheim Ducks on their way to the franchise's first Stanley Cup last season.

The defending champion Ducks look to continue their dominance over the Canucks when they meet Tuesday at GM Place in a rematch of the Western Conference semifinals.

In last season's playoff series, Anaheim eliminated the Canucks in five games, outscoring them 14-8 before going on to win the first Stanley Cup in the franchise's 14-year history.

Anaheim's dominance of Vancouver in the playoffs was a carryover from the regular season. The Ducks outscored the Canucks 14-6 in going 3-0-1 against them in 2006-07, and have won six of the last seven regular-season meetings.

Anaheim (11-9-4) has had no problems playing at GM Place lately, outscoring Vancouver 19-6 during a six-game winning streak there since a 7-3 loss on Dec. 28, 2002.

The Ducks, opening a three-game road trip, are 3-1-0 on the road this month after losing their first six games away from the Honda Center.

They are coming off a 3-2 win over Los Angeles on Sunday to continue their recent turnaround. After going just 4-7-2 in September and October, Anaheim is 7-2-2 this month.

On Sunday, Ryan Getzlaf's second goal of the game tied the score at 2 with 11:58 to play in the third period, and Anaheim got the winner when Chris Kunitz knocked in a rebound with 3:06 remaining.

Getzlaf, who has 10 goals and a team-best 25 points, has six goals and six assists during his career-high eight-game point streak.

"He's obviously coming into his own," Kunitz said. "He's a person we can build the team around. He definitely picked our team up tonight with a couple goals."

The Ducks signed Getzlaf, a third-year pro, to a five-year, $26.625 million contract extension last Tuesday. He had three goals and an assist against the Canucks last season.

Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere had 23 saves on Sunday, improving to 5-1-0 with a 2.09 goals-against average since Nov. 9.

Last season, Giguere went 3-0-1 with a 1.49 GAA and a shutout against the Canucks in the regular season and 4-1-0 with a 1.36 GAA against them in the playoffs. He is 7-0-1 with a 1.57 GAA and a shutout in his last nine regular-season games against Vancouver, while posting a 1.00 GAA in winning his last five starts at GM Place.

Like the Ducks, the Canucks (12-9-2) are one of the hottest teams in the league after getting off to a slow start. They opened the season 5-8-0, but are 7-1-2 since Nov. 2.

Vancouver began a three-game homestand with a 2-0 win over Chicago on Sunday. The Canucks are 4-0-1 at home since Nov. 9 after opening the season 1-6-0 at GM Place.

Brendan Morrison scored a first-period power-play goal against the Blackhawks, and Daniel Sedin finished the scoring with an empty-net goal with 31.7 seconds left in regulation.

Roberto Luongo made 27 saves on Sunday, improving to 6-1-2 with a 1.75 GAA and two shutouts since Nov. 3.

"The win is what's most important," Luongo said of his 34th career shutout. "It was a really tight game. It took a solid 60 minutes tonight and even then it came down to the wire."

Luongo had little success against the Ducks last season, though, posting a 3.78 GAA in losing his three regular-season meetings against them. He then went 1-4-0 with a 2.31 GAA in the playoff series.

Markus Naslund, who leads the Canucks with 10 goals this season, had three goals against the Ducks in last season's playoffs.