Dallas at Anaheim

Anaheim opens up their defense of the Stanley Cup vs. the Stars and most have already annointed the Ducks a first-round easy winner. Not so fast. The Stars actually won five of eight between these two clubs this season and won two of the four road games in Anaheim. This Dallas team is motivated to show up here given their recent early exits from the playoffs. Marty Turco said of this game, "It's of the utmost importance... There's a few of us that know how hungry the fans are and how hungry this team is. It's human nature to want to prove people wrong and erase those memories." To win on the road in the playoffs you have to have more than motivation. You need talent. This is a team that can win on the road as they were 22-19 away from home and 18-14 vs. winning teams this season. Their offense was clicking to close the season as they scored 7, 4 and 4 in three of their final five games. Dallas can score on this excellent Ducks defense and Anaheim's offense is quite suspect. Giguere is very good but Dallas is 42-29 the past two seasons vs. starting goalies that save over 91% of shots. This team is also 30-26 as an underdog the past two seasons and 17-12 on the road in expected defensive battles (total of 5). Finally, Dallas is 11-0 this season playing with double revenge. So, we have a talented, capable, motivated dog here and at this line, we have a ton of value on that dog.