As the second round of the playoffs take place, we see many teams dreaming to lift the Stanley Cup, but it will be a difficult road. It will also be a difficult one for both the LA Kings and the Ducks of Anaheim.
The Kings entered the first round down 0-3 versus the Sharks, but came back to win the series 4-3, making them the 4th team to do this in NHL. Many Kings fans believed in the lucky yellow tie of Coach Darryl Sutter, but it wasn’t all just the tie. The Kings wouldn’t have done it without Anze Kopitar, who led the series with 4 goals and 10 points. Tofolli, Pearson, Carter, Williams, Gaborik, and Brown all also assisted and scored in the series to get the Kings to where they are at today. We know that the Ducks are a high-scoring team but in order for them to do that in this series, they will have to get through Jonathan Quick, Quick looked great in the past 4 games versus the San Jose Sharks, having a total of 131 saves in the last 4 games of the series. He also allowed only 5 goals in just 4 games, better than the 17 he allowed in the first 3.
The Kings aren’t giving up on this dream but in order for them to do that, they need to get through a Ducks team that looked good in the first round of the series versus the Dallas Stars. The Ducks made it to the second round of the Stanley Cup by beating the Dallas Stars in 6 games, 4-2. Frederik Anderson looked great as well in front of the goal having 108 saves but allowed 11 goals in the 4 games they won against the Stars. The Ducks also made it to the second round with the help of Cogliano, Beleskey, Maroon, Perry, Bonino, who lead the team with 3 goals in the series along with Getzlaf.
During the regular season, the Kings met with the Ducks five times, with the Ducks winning 4 out of the 5 games. But the playoffs are a different story and anything can be turned around. The Ducks will be starting Hiller as goalkeeper over Andersen and the Kings will have Jonathan Quick, who will do his best to look better in this series. Quick had a .963 save percentage in the last four games to help the Kings turnaround the series. But Hiller will do his best to keep up with Quick in the net as well.
Prediction: Being a Kings fan, I would love to see the Kings win the first game of the series, but my call is that the Ducks will take game 1 of the series, having home ice advantage. It will be a close match but at the end the Ducks will come strong and go into game two with a 1-0 lead in the series.
Game 1 will take place at Honda Center @5pm PT where the Ducks will be hosting the Kings for the first game of the series. This will also be the first time in NHL history were the Ducks and the Kings will be going against each other in the playoffs.
