Honda Center

When: 7 p.m. Where: Honda Center. On the air: TV: ESPNU; Radio: 570. Records: UCLA 5-2, No. 23 San Diego State 4-1 Update: Bruins freshman center Tony Parker (back spasms, sprained left ankle) is questionable, as is Aztecs guard Chase Tapley (knee) and forward DeShawn Stephens (hip). San Diego State has won 25 consecutive games against teams from California. UCLA is 11-4 in its last 15 games in the John R. Wooden Classic. - Baxter Holmes

A mid-major conference this week will scrounge for precious NCAA bids at a half-empty Southland arena — and yes, we're talking about the Pac-12. The Pacific Life Pac-12 tournament starts Wednesday at Staples Center and the Big West opens Thursday at Honda Center. It's not often the Big West can say "come see us instead," but this could be the year to make that case. The Pac-12, as lousy as it's been, may still garner two or three bids. But that would be based on reputation.

The puck slipped away from Ducks defenseman Ben Lovejoy, but he had the presence, savvy and, well, luck to get it back and go around the Red Wings' Gustav Nyquist and Brian Lashoff and set up teammate Nick Bonino for the overtime game-winner. Lost and found. All this unfolded in a matter of seconds, and with the goal the Ducks find themselves one game away from advancing out of the Western Conference quarterfinals. The Ducks' 3-2 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at Honda Center in Game 5 gave them a 3-2 edge in this series.

DETROIT - The poke check, while slow-developing, might have pulled Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller out of trouble after Detroit's Gustav Nyquist split the defense and attacked with a burst of speed. But everything seemed to turn sideways. The puck went off the knee of Ducks defenseman Bryan Allen. Hiller alertly kicked out his left leg and made the save. But three saves? That was asking too much. BOX SCORE: Detroit 3, Ducks 2 The Ducks failed to pick up the trailing forward, Damien Brunner, a natural goal scorer who certainly wasn't going to miss an easy tap-in.

A great beginning turned into a sorry end for the Ducks, who burned up the NHL in the early weeks of this lockout-shortened season but were too burned out Sunday to put up much of a consistent challenge to the inspired Detroit Red Wings. What should have been a memory for the ages - a Game 7, a defining moment every NHL player craves - evolved into a dispirited 3-2 loss for the second-seeded Ducks, who were a step slower and a split-second behind the seventh-seeded Red Wings most of the night.

Jonas Hiller is no longer a renter. He closed escrow on a place on the sand in Newport Beach in December, ending his annual ritual of moving out of a furnished rental at season's end to make way for summer tenants. Far more important for the Ducks, the 28-year-old Swiss goaltender has taken up residence in a small but very valuable piece of real estate between the goalposts at the Honda Center. That six-by-four-foot opening used to be the home of Jean-Sebastien Giguere, winner of the 2003 Conn Smythe Trophy and the 2007 Stanley Cup. Now it belongs to Hiller, whose 21 wins, 2.39 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and back-to-back shutouts earned him a spot on the NHL All-Star roster Tuesday, one of six goalies on the team announced for the Jan. 30 game in Raleigh, N.C. "It's a great feeling to have the chance go there and it's a great honor and I'm really excited," Hiller said.

Corey Perry was a fresh-faced second-year player and just 21 when the Ducks started their playoff run to a Stanley Cup championship in 2007. Now, the 2010-11 Hart Trophy winner is a little more than a month removed from signing an eight-year, $69-million extension, and the attention on him is far more glaring with the Stanley Cup playoffs just days away. "Starting from a young age and maturing as a player, you're taught to put the team on your back," Perry said after practice Friday at Honda Center.

This was the moment Teemu Selanne was waiting for - one of the reasons the 42-year-old decided to slog through another regular season, albeit a shortened one. The career of a future Hall of Famer isn't supposed to end at a nondescript regular-season game in western Canada. Or after a disappointing playoff loss against Nashville. Selanne and the Ducks were back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011 and the Finnish legend wasted little time in marking his fine imprint on this first-round series, lifting Anaheim to a 3-1 victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at Honda Center in Game 1. BOX SCORE: Ducks 3, Detroit 1 Put Selanne on the power play and magic is bound to unfold.

On the eve of two home games in three nights against the rival Detroit Red Wings, the Ducks on Thursday secured big-bodied left wing Patrick Maroon with a two-year, $1.15-million contract extension. Maroon, 24, has two goals in 11 games this season with the Ducks after scoring 17 goals in 51 games at minor league Norfolk (Va.). The 6-foot-3, 230-pound player has impressed by complementing his brawn (10 penalty minutes) with graceful puck handling and an eye for the net. He scored his first goal Feb. 16 against Nashville's Pekka Rinne and tied the score in an eventual 2-1 win at Minnesota on March 12. Dentist appointment While others around him skated into position in the final minutes of Wednesday's 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, Ducks center Andrew Cogliano had fallen to the ice, holding his mouth.

Ryan Getzlaf is having an MVP-caliber season for the Ducks, his 13 goals and 30 assists the most tangible strengths of a captain whose leadership, toughness and wisdom have been treasured in this run to a 25-8-5 record. Getzlaf's value has increased from the moment he left Wednesday night's 5-2 victory over Dallas following his third-period goal, suffering right leg pain that also caused him to miss Friday's 3-1 loss to the Stars. Getzlaf didn't practice at Saturday's optional workout at Honda Center, Coach Bruce Boudreau repeating that his star is day to day with the defending Stanley Cup-champion Kings coming to Honda Center for a 6 p.m. game Sunday.