Anaheim Ducks Vs. Dallas Stars

Another year, another strong regular season for the loaded for bear Anaheim Ducks. But will this be the year this immensely talented team puts it all together when it counts most, in the playoffs? Or will it be yet another bitter playoff disappointment? The club has 3 star forwards in Toews, Kane and Heatley. Nice 2nd tier offensive forwards such as Perron, Vermette, Samuelsson and Smyth. Good role players like Stoll, Glencross and Larose. On defence, the club has a very good top 4 in Timonen-Bouwmeester-Suter-Seidenberg. Marc-Andre Fleury is a strong #1 goalie. On paper, they may be the most stacked team in the Conference. It’s a mix that should result in a run at a title and a lengthy playoff run, but with this franchise, that seems like more of an assumption than anything. Bottom line, the Ducks will have to show right from the start that they can win the close games and deal with adversity.

3 KEY FACTORS:

• Dany Heatley. The veteran sniper had an underwhelming season and against a stingy Dallas team, the Ducks will need him to produce.
• The Ducks PP vs. the Stars PK. The Stars PK ranked 8th, while the Ducks PP ranked 13th. Having success with the man advantage is a must for Anaheim.
• Fighting the ghosts of playoffs past. There is no reason why Anaheim should lose this series. But strange things happen at this time of the year…

The Dallas Stars enter the playoffs on a downer. After being one of the top teams in the American Conference for most of the season, the club stumbled in the 2nd half and ended up finishing 7th, drawing an extremely tough 1st round matchup as a result. What makes Dallas a competitive team is their depth as they lack elite superstar type talent. At center, they have 3 strong centers in Ribeiro, Fisher and Legwand. The likes of Elias, Sullivan, Boyes, Stillman, Armstrong and Comeau populate the wings. Add in good foot soldiers such as Pahlsson, Kelly and Ward and Dallas can put together 4 strong lines. The defence does not have any big names, but the unit has a solid top 4 with Ballard-Wideman-Gleason-Gilbert. In net, Brian Elliott has put together a stunning season, which was needed as Cristobal Huet was terrible for most of it.

3 KEY FACTORS:

• A stringy defensive game. The Stars are outgunned in this series. They will have to keep the scores low, block shots and commit to a defensive system.
• Brian Elliot. Simply put, as good as he was during the season, he will likely need to be much better for Dallas to win this series. Heoric, maybe.
• A forward dominating. Ribeiro or Elias or someone else. The balanced attack worked in-season, but against this Ducks team, someone has to be on fire.

Prediction: A lot of things have to go Dallas’ way in this series and it’s hard to imagine it with their 2nd half struggles. The Ducks and their talent will prevail. Ducks in 5.