Well they are separated by 30 miles and have been division rivals for the last 20 years, but this would be the first time that the
Anaheim Ducks and the
LA Kings would ever meet in the playoffs.
LA, who came into the series rattling off four straight wins to eliminate the San Jose Sharks, came into the series on a mission to keep on rolling. A big part of that success was goaltender
Jonathan Quick. Quick struggled in the first game of the first round, but would improve his numbers in every single game of the series against San Jose. In the Kings five game winning streak they are currently on, Quick has looked like the Quick of the 2012
Stanley Cup team. If this trend continues, I'd expect the Kings to sneak their way into the Cup finals.
As for the quack attack, they came into game one off of a very hard fought six game series against the
Dallas Stars. However, they are starting to turn into the
Vancouver Canucks in these playoffs with all of their goalie drama that is occurring as of late. With Fredrick Anderson getting pretty much all the game play in the first round, usual number one,
Jonas Hiller, is left on the sidelines leaving the fans scratching their heads. One would assume that Hiller would be the guy for the Ducks in the playoffs, especially since he has the most experience. That was not the case in round one, but he would get the call for game one in round two. Hiller would play decent in this game stopping 33 out of 36 shots faced, but the Ducks would lose on home ice and look for revenge tonight in game two.
Both of these teams have big bodies who like to be physical, a good amount of skillful players, and excellent puck moving defensemen, but the key difference in this
freeway series is the goalies. Quick is on a different level than both Anaheim tenders and will be the deciding factor in LA taking this series.
I expect the rest of this series to be very fast, very physical, and no love lost between these longtime rivals. It is still very hard to believe that this is still the two franchises first ever playoff match-up in the 20 year existence of the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks. It's playoff series like this that make already existing rivalries that much greater, the hate between players much stronger and the same can be said between these two very passionate fan bases as well.
