The Dallas Stars evened their Western Conference series with the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night with a solid 4-2 win. The Stars chased rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen from the net and turned the series into a best-of-three scenario.
The Ducks are in grave danger of repeating last season’s disappointing first-round upset loss to the Detroit Red Wings. The second-seeded Ducks were stunned in seven games by an undermanned Detroit team that added another failed playoff chapter to coach Bruce Boudreau’s career.
The Duck’s bench boss knows all too well about regular season success and playoff flameouts. During his time in Washington, Boudreau led the Capitals to four consecutive division titles but never made it past the second round of the playoffs.
There is still a long way to go in this series, and we are reaching the point where it could go either way. Here are five takeaways from the Dallas-Anaheim series so far.
1. Anaheim needs Ryan Getzlaf.
He may not get the MVP mentions or love that he deserves, but this is a completely different team without their captain. Getzlaf is a pass-first center, with a big body that he isn’t afraid to use. He’s an underrated skater and wins over 55% of his faceoffs. Without him in the lineup, the Ducks have a significant drop off at center, which adversely affects Anaheim’s best sniper, Corey Perry.
2. Boudreau needs to eliminate the potential for a goaltending controversy immediately.
The Ducks were in a similar position last year when Viktor Fasth outplayed Jonas Hiller down the stretch, but was benched in favor of Hiller for the playoffs. Boudreau went with the opposite strategy this season and stuck with Andersen headed into the playoffs. The first two games worked out well for the Ducks as they took a 2-0 series lead. Pulling Andersen at this point in the series will ruin his confidence for the rest of the playoffs, but as good as he was in the regular season, he’s been average in the playoffs.
3. Tyler Seguin needs to get his game going.
The Dallas sniper has been largely dormant through the first four games. He has a goal and a single assist, but has hardly resembled the sniper that potted 37 goals with 84 points in the regular season. The knock on Seguin in Boston was his failure to show up in the postseason, which precipitated his move to Texas. If the Stars are hoping to pull off the upset, they will need their leading scorer to step up his game.
4. Kari Lehtonen needs to win on the road.
That sentence qualifies for the “DUH!” statement of the year because simple math will tell you that the Stars have to win a road game to advance. With two of the last three games in Anaheim, Lehtonen needs to put together a game similar to Game 3. Not necessarily shutout the Ducks, but given the number of shots faced, Lehtonen was spectacular. The Dallas game plan will obviously be to cut down on the shots as much as possible, but they’ll need their goaltender to answer the bell when the Ducks come a’quacking.
5. The series will be won by the team with the better third and fourth line.
Nine players on each team have scored at least one goal with only three players between Dallas and Anaheim with multiple goals. The point is that there has been a balance of scoring on both sides, which is a trend that will continue. With the bulk of play being so balanced, each team will need to get the most out of every shift to gain an advantage. While it would make sense for the series to swing on the play of Getzlaf, Perry, Seguin or Jamie Benn, it’s will be the play of the lesser known players that make the difference. For Anaheim keep an eye on Mathieu Perreault, Nick Bonino or Kyle Palmieri. Dallas has been getting clutch play from Antoine Roussel, Ryan Garbutt and Colton Sceviour.