Slumping Ducks separate Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry

Reporting from Calgary, Canada  —  The last time Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau split up Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, he said it lasted one period.

Concerned that both standouts are slumping together – they’ve combined for two goals and an assist in the past five games – Boudreau will put right wing Perry on the second line alongside center Ryan Kesler Friday night against the Calgary Flames.

Getzlaf will have a new right wing, Kyle Palmieri.

“If both of them aren’t going to their level and they’re both in a slump, that means your one line that plays 20 minutes together is not doing as well as it should be,” Boudreau said. “Hopefully, the other guys can help them out a little bit.”

Getzlaf said Thursday he and Perry wouldn’t know if they’d be separated until game time.

“If you’re going to win, if it works, that’s the main goal,” Perry said. “If it’s not working, you’ve got to change it.”

LINDHOLM BACK IN: Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm said he’ll return to game action tonight against the third-place Flames (32-22-4) after missing Wednesday’s 4-1 loss against Tampa Bay with an unspecified lower-body injury.

Lindholm said he needed rest from skating, also skipping Tuesday’s practice to spend time in the Ducks’ conditioning room.

“I didn’t skate for three days, which was good, because skating was making it worse,” Lindholm said. “Just needed to get healed, recover.”

GIBSON THE CHOICE: Goalie John Gibson left the ice first at Friday’s morning skate in the Saddledome, indicating he’ll make his fourth consecutive start as starter Frederik Andersen remained in Orange County this trip to continue recovering from a head/neck injury dating to Feb. 8.

LOOKING FOR ANSWERS: One member of the Ducks said the team’s 3-7 skid with at least four goals allowed in seven of the past 10 games is connected to rushing shots in the offensive zone, leading to too many odd-man rushes.

The Ducks (35-16-7) are at their best forcing the puck toward the opposing goal, keeping possession for an extended time, grinding foes down.

“Every little mistake, we try to correct. We look for every little edge,” Boudreau said. “I don’t have the perfect answer. If I had the perfect answer, we’d never go in a slump.”

Lindholm said it’s a matter of “getting back to what we’ve done before. We know we can.”

After Tampa Bay outshot Anaheim, 20-5, in the second period and scored four goals, defenseman Ben Lovejoy on Friday said “having our brains turned on for the entire game” is critical. “We haven’t done that in a long time.”