Ducks vs. Stars: 3 things you need to know

WEST
ANA vs. DAL | SJS vs. LAK
COL vs. MIN | STL vs. CHI
EAST
BOS vs. DET | TBL vs. MTL
PIT vs. CBJ | NYR vs. PHI

Unfathomable forward depth, stellar goaltending, and one of the NHL's most dangerous forward lines powered the Anaheim Ducks to the top of the Western Conference table in coach Bruce Boudreau's second full season with the club. The Ducks will enjoy home ice advantage against the upstart Dallas Stars in Round 1, an organization making its first playoff appearance since 2008.

The Stars, meanwhile, shook up their management team and coaching staff last summer, hiring general manager Jim Nill away from the Detroit Red Wings to replace Joe Niewendyk, and installing head coach Lindy Ruff, formerly of the Buffalo Sabres, in place of Glen Gulutzan. Ruff and Nill pushed all of the right buttons, dramatically improving a Stars team while simultaneously getting younger.

Anaheim hosts Dallas on Wednesday to open their seven-game series. Here are the three things you need to know:

Upset Potential

The Stars were the Western Conference's eighth best team in the regular season, while the Ducks were the West's best. Despite that fact, this series is likely to be much closer than the respective records might suggest. 

The Ducks' strength, for example, is their ability to roll four forward lines. Anaheim, after all, has a number of dangerous players at the bottom-end of their roster. That advantage is neutered somewhat against Dallas, however, because the Stars have that too. 

In fact, at even-strength the Stars were the better team by the relevant, and predictive, shot based metrics this season. And in score tied situations, the Stars were significantly better as they controlled 51 percent of all shot attempts while the Ducks controlled 48.6 percent (a very low number for a top seed).

Both teams take shots at a high rate at even-strength, so this could be a high-scoring series, but the Stars have the profile of a team that can go toe-to-toe with the Ducks. Expect an extended series.

Stephane Robidas

The Dallas Stars were on the playoff bubble when they dealt under-rated hybrid shutdown defender Stephane Robidas to the Anaheim Ducks at the NHL trade deadline. It's a move they may regret, because Robidas has played some spectacular hockey in his 14 appearances with the Ducks since the deal.

Since Robidas joined the Ducks 14 games ago, the team has been a significantly more formidable puck possession side. Indeed, since the NHL trade deadline the Ducks have been much improved at evens; and Robidas' play is a huge part of it. 

The Ducks will be able to counter Dallas' potent top-line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Valeri Nichushkin with two of the league's better, veteran defensive defenseman (Robidas and Francois Beauchemin). Meanwhile the Stars don't really have comparable quality or experience on their blue-line to trot out against Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

Top of the Roster

The marquee matchup in this series will be Dallas' top forward line (Benn, Nichushkin, Seguin) and how they perform in contrast with Anaheim's top group (Perry, Getzlaf, and recently Matt Belesky). 

These are two of the league's most explosive forward lines. With Getzlaf on the ice at even-strength, the Ducks outscored their opponents by 34 goals. With Benn on the ice at even-strength, the Stars outscored their opponents by 28. These are dominant units.

It seems probable that whichever top-end forward group is more productive in this series: that team will be the group left standing at the start of the second round.

Schedule