Game 2 between the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks takes plce tonight in the First Round of the NHL Playoffs. The game is scheduled for a 10:30 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for the game have Anaheim as a favorite to win series.
The second game of this series will have a tough time living up to what happened in the opener. Anaheim scored three first period goals in that game but had to hang on for a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars. The Ducks are hoping that captain Ryan Getzlaf feels a bit more like himself after taking a puck to the head. Nobody is expecting him not to play in tonight's contest in what could be a huge game for both teams.
Tyler Seguin is a very good young player, but his shot drilled Getzlaf's face in the final seconds of Game 1 Wednesday night. Getzlaf didn't have any broken bones in his face and the team expects him to be ready to go in tonight's contest. He finished the season as the second leading scorer in the NHL this season with 87 points and helped the Ducks win a Western Conference-high 54 games. But he's also able to do the dirty work and should help his team stay focused tonight.
Dallas put a serious charge into Game 1 after falling behind. The Stars struggled out of the gate and buried themselves in a hole a bit too far, unable to get a fourth tally and tie the game late in the contest.
Both teams need to do a better job staying out of the box and the team with fewer penalties is going to have an edge. Each club got 35 shots on goal in the fast-paced contest that saw Frederik Andersen make just enough saves to propel the Ducks to a win.
Dallas goal tender Kari Lehtonen did not fair well enough in the opener, making 31 saves. Anaheim is going to continue coming after him in tonight's game as the Ducks finished with the highest scoring average of any team in the league at 3.2 goals per game. Corey Perry led them with 43 regular season tallies but finished without a mark in the opener, despite six shots on net.
Tonight, we like the Ducks to continue to put pressure on the Dallas defense. They're a very fast starting team and although they struggled to keep Dallas off the scoreboard in the later part of Wednesday's game, look for Anaheim to stay out in front early and come away with a 2-0 series lead.
Free Pick: Anaheim 4, Dallas 1
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