Game 33

Date: Wednesday, December 12th

Time: 7:00 PT / 10:00 ET

Location: Honda Center

TV: Prime

Radio: AM830

Your Anaheim Ducks are back in action for the first time since Sunday night as they take on the Dallas Stars in Honda Center. After their five-game winning streak came to an end last Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Ducks were able to get back into the win column by beating the New Jersey Devils to end the weekend. The explosion of offense came out of nowhere, which produced five regulation goals for both teams. The Ducks were able to pull out the win with a Ryan Getzlaf shootout winner.

The Stars’ season has played out just how you would expect for a Central Division team. They currently hold the last Wildcard spot in the Western Conference with a 16-11-3 record. Dallas is 5-4-1 in their last 10 games and recently had their four-game win streak come to an end against the Vegas Golden Knights. The most telling stat of this team is that they are 10-3-1 at home (amazing) but only a lackluster 7-11-0 away from American Airlines Center. Two of those home games include matchups against the October version of the Ducks. You know, the one that was not good. The Stars put up ten goals-for while only giving up five to the Ducks. If that trend continues, we could be in for a long game tonight.

For random stats for the day, the Dallas Stars have played eleven games against the Pacific Division this year and have only lost one of them. That one loss came last game against Vegas. Will the Ducks continue that trend and make the Stars 10-2 against the Pacific?

Players to Watch

Hampus Lindholm

The young, Swedish defenseman will have his hands full keeping the famous Stars’ top line in check. Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov have been reunited by coach Jim Montgomery and are poised for another offensive night. While paired with Brandon Montour, Lindholm will be tasked to keep the trio off of the score sheet. This will not be an easy task so Lindholm will not be able to take a shift off. As long as Hampus has strong support from his forwards (hoping the Ryan Kesler line is not hard matched with them tonight), I believe that he has the talent to at least keep scoring chances to a minimum. They might lose the corsi battle, but that is alright to a high-powered offense. Any other positive would be huge.

Alexander Radulov

If you had to guess which Stars forward has the best offensive numbers this year, which would you choose? It’s not the good ol’ Canadian boy Jamie Benn. It is not noted ladies’ man Tyler Seguin. It’s the Russian Alexander Radulov. He might not have the most goals, assists, or even points on the team, but he is the only superstar that is over a point a game this season. After 20 games (injuries are rough) Radulov has 9 goals and 13 assists. Will he score any tonight?