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The Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks are looking to break their tie at eighth place in the Western Conference with their matchup on Wednesday night.
The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars were scoreless after the first period and they are tied at one each at the end of the second period. Lubomir Visnovsky started the scoring in the second period at the :59 mark of the second as he capitalized on a Trevor Daley penalty that occurred at the end of the first period. His goal was assisted by Ryan Getzlaf and Cam Fowler. The Stars waited until the ten minute mark of the second to get their powerplay goal in. It came off the stick of Alex Goligoski and came off of a Sheldon Brookbank holding penalty. His goal was assisted by Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards.
The Ducks outshot the Stars in the second period 13-7 after they were outshot by the Stars 9-6 in the first period. Both goaltenders have made some good saves in the game as Anaheim's Ray Emery has 15 saves while Dallas' Kari Lehtonen has 18 saves.
This tie has to be broken at some point and the rest of the Western Conference is hoping that it gets settled in the third period.
The Ducks and Stars will break their tie in the Western Conference standings after their matchup tonight, but it isn't known who is getting the advantage as the teams are scoreless through the first period. Both teams had a handful of chances in the first period but the goaltenders in this game have stopped all 16 shots they have seen in the game. Anaheim's Ray Emery has made nine saves while Dallas' Kari Lehtonen has made seven.
Both teams have had their chances with the man advantage as well, with Anaheim have two powerplays to the Stars one. The Ducks will have 1:14 left in their second powerplay when the two teams start the second period.
Neither team has a player that is creating a handful of chances either, four players are tied with the game lead of two shots on goal. The Stars are creating more shots around the net which includes blocked and missed shots, with 18 total shots compared to the Ducks 12 total shots.
One of these teams has to eventually break the tie but with both teams in the playoff hunt, that could happen in overtime.
The Anaheim Ducks and Dallas Stars sit at eighth and ninth place in the Western Conference tied with 85 points along with the No. 10 Calgary Flames. Both teams will attempt to break that logjam as they meet at the American Airlines Center. The Ducks currently have the tie breaker over all three teams as they have the most non-shootout wins among the three teams. If either team wins tonight, it would vault them into sixth place in the conference ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks.
The most simple thing for all of the teams in the Western Conference race is that they keep winning. The guys from Anaheim Calling echo that sentiment as they talk about the Ducks playoff chances this season:
I like this team, and they've battled back to the most important condition in a playoff race, they control their own fate. They currently have the tie breaker over Dallas, and no one within striking distance has a game in hand on them. From here on out, it can be simple for the Ducks, keep winning and you've got a chance. I'm not making any predictions, or anything. That's a fact of their situation. Again, I like the way the team has been playing. At the beginning of the season, this team wouldn't have come back to win this game.
For the Stars, they will get the services of Loui Eriksson back in the lineup as he missed the last two games for the Stars. The guys at Defending Big D are hoping that Eriksson can recreate the magic with Brad Richards he had before he missed time with his injury:
Richards has been playing on a line with Jamie Langenbrunner and Steve Ott, and also on a trio including Brandon Segal and Tomas Vincour, so the return of Loui Eriksson is critical to stabilize his situation and facilitate the on-going process of getting him [Richards] back to his old self.
The game starts at 8:30 pm Eastern, and for more information on this game please visit our Stars site, Defending Big D, and our Ducks site, Anaheim Calling.
Ducks Vs. Stars Score: Cam Fowler Completes Ducks Comeback To Win 4-3 In Overtime
The worst case scenario happened for everyone in the Western Conference as Teemu Selanne scored the game tying goal with six seconds left in the game. Cam Fowler completed the Ducks comeback with the game winner 1:42 into the overtime period. With the Ducks defeating the Stars in overtime, the Ducks move to sixth place in the conference with 87 points while the Stars are in a tie for seventh with the Chicago Blackhawks with 86 points.
After a scoreless first period, Lubomir Visnovsky started the scoring for the Ducks with a powerplay goal :59 into the second period. The Stars answered that goal with a Alex Goligoski goal at the ten minute mark of the second period.
In the third period, Loui Eriksson and Corey Perry traded goals that were 11 seconds apart from each other at the four minute mark of the third period. Daley broke the tie with the at 13:21 of the third and then Selanne scored the game tying goal with six seconds left in the game.
Both Brad Richards and Mike Ribeiro ended up with two assists a piece for the Dallas Stars while Bobby Ryan adn Ryan Getzlaf each ended up with two assists for the Ducks.
The Ducks will travel to Nashville to take on the Predators on Thursday while the Stars will travel to Nashville to take on those same Predators on Saturday. For more information on this game, please visit our Stars site Defending Big D, and our Ducks site, Anaheim Calling.
Mar 23 11:14p by Zachary Zielonka - 0 comments