The Anaheim Ducks’ Stanley Cup reign will be a short one if they don’t start to turn around their Western Conference quarterfinal beginning Tuesday night in Dallas, where the Stars are -135 money line betting favorites (over/under: 5 goals) at WagerWeb.com.
Having dropped the first two games on home ice, the Ducks must find immediate success at American Airlines Center or else fall into a 3-0 hole that only two teams in NHL history have overcome.
Teams trailing 2-0 in best-of-seven series have recovered to win just 37 times on 280 such occasions, but a mere one victory can raise that 13.2 percent success rate dramatically. Since 1994, when the league went to its current conference-based playoff format, clubs winning Game 3 after having lost the first two games at home have gone on to capture nine of 18 series, or an even 50 percent.
"It's doable, man," center Doug Weight said.
That’s hard to see, with Dallas having rolled to 4-0 and 5-2 victories in the opening two games. The Stars scored on 6-of-13 power plays, the Ducks were 1-for-9.
The Ducks' physical style was considered strength in their Cup run a year ago, but it's been a significant weakness thus far against the Stars. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere has been a postseason hero in the past for the Ducks, but he's been decidedly ordinary in this series. "Our group has been in some waters before and we've had our fair share of adversity, not only in the playoffs previously but in this regular season," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "We've been able to rally around one another and get things done. Our biggest game of the year is tomorrow and we have to be prepared to play the best game we've played so far."
The Stars deserve full credit for their impressive performance thus far, as they've been out-skating and out-chancing the Ducks at almost every turn, with strong goaltending from starter Marty Turco (save percentage of .956).
And the Dallas centers, Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards and Mike Modano, have outplayed their Anaheim counterparts on even strength and on special teams.
Ribeiro leads Dallas scorers with a goal and four assists. Richards has a goal and two assists. And Modano struck for a momentum-changing power-play goal in the third period of Game 2 that put the Stars ahead for good.
Ribeiro was one of several players who needed to be good, if not great, for the Stars to thrive in the playoffs. He and linemates Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen were expected to continue their goal-scoring proficiency beyond the regular-season schedule. And so far, nobody has disappointed.
On the injury front, Ducks right wing Rob Niedermayer is questionable for Game 3 because of an upper-body injury. He missed Monday's practice.
Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov went through a light skate at Monday morning’s practice, but he needs more recovery time from a hernia procedure before he’s ready for game action.
Betting trends: Under is 10-1-3 in Ducks’ last 14 road games. ... Under is 19-7-7 in Ducks’ last 33 overall. ... Dallas is 7-3 in its last 10 Tuesday games. ... Dallas is 281-134-39 in its last 454 home games. ... Ducks are 3-8 in the last 11 meetings vs. Stars and 9-23-2 in the last 34 meetings in Dallas.
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