The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings will play Game 3 tonight in their Second Round NHL Playoffs series. The game is scheduled for a 10:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised nationally on the NBC Sports Network. Currently the odds for the game have Los Angeles favored to win.
Anaheim finished with the top spot in the Western Conference and won 54 games this season. The Ducks were one of the best teams in the league in home games this season, going 29-8-4 at the Duck Pond this season. Now they're in serious trouble after dropping the opening two games to the Los Angeles Kings, who became just the fourth team in NHL history to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series.
The Ducks' season was their best in franchise history, but they've lost four of their last six playoff games dating back to their first round series against Dallas. Ryan Getzlaf led the team with 87 points this season but he's not doing enough as Los Angeles has a commanding 2-0 lead and is playing on their home ice tonight. The Ducks are a fantastic offensive team, finishing second in the league with 266 goals. But Los Angeles is the best overall defensive team in the league and they have the best goalie in hockey in Jonathan Quick. The Kings have held the Ducks to just three goals through three games while LA themselves have scored three goals in each game.
During the regular season, the Kings beat Anaheim just once in five games.
The Kings are up 2-0 in a playoff series for the sixth time in the last three post seasons and they've done that five times while opening up on the road. Back in 2012 they led all four series 3-0 despite opening on the road each time in each of their series.
Both teams are banged up a bit, so this series looks like it could be a battle of attrition. How will Anaheim respond to their goalie problems? Both Jonas Hiller and Frederik Anderson played well during the regular season and have done a serviceable job in the playoffs, but neither is doing enough to help their team get on the right side of the win column. Whomever they start tonight is going to have to up their game.
Tonight we like Anaheim to pull the mild upset on the road. They really can't go down 3-0 to this LA team and we expect the Ducks to be on the offensive the entire game, peppering Quick in net.
Free Pick: Anaheim 3, Los Angeles 2
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