Jack Capuano sits Casey Cizikas, wants him to relax

Casey Cizikas was a surprising healthy scratch Wednesday night, the first time the 23-year-old has been benched since becoming a regular at the start of the 2012-13 season.

"He doesn't have a point yet and I just think he's pressing a little," Jack Capuano said of the decision to give Eric Boulton his first action of the season and sit Cizikas. "He works so hard every shift . . . but I just want him to relax, get refreshed."

Cizikas has been the fourth-line center and a regular penalty killer since emerging as a rookie two years ago, when he had six goals and nine assists during the regular season and two goals and two assists in the Isles' first-round loss to the Penguins.

The Isles' flailing penalty kill, which came into last night's game last in the league at only a 64.7 percent success rate, also has weighed on the young center.

Capuano said Ryan Strome would nominally center Matt Martin and Boulton, but Strome likely would "move around" and take shifts in different spots as well as take some of Cizikas' PK duties.

Ducks' goalie carousel

Jaroslav Halak was Capuano's choice in goal, but Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau decided to wait until warm-ups to decide on his goalie.

Frederik Andersen, who has been the No. 1 Ducks goaltender this season, was the first goalie off the ice from Anaheim's morning skate, followed by onetime Rangers farmhand Jason LaBarbera. John Gibson, who has backed up Andersen, is out six weeks with a groin injury. Andersen was out Sunday with leg tightness.

Flu bug bites Ducks

An hour before Wednesday night's game the Ducks announced that their top two scorers, captain Ryan Getzlaf and wing Corey Perry, who leads the NHL with 11 goals, would miss the game with the flu.