Now that the Western Conference playoffs of the 2014 NHL Stanley Cup has moved to the Semifinal Round with Game 1 as the No 6 seed Flames of Calgary play the No. 1 seed Ducks of Anaheim with this series tied at 0-0 and thus Game 1 will be played at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California with puck-off time at 10:10 PM ET on Thursday the 30th of April 2015.
The opening betting odds have the Ducks favored on the Money Line at -185 with the Total being 5 ½ Under -185 and -1 ½ +170 on the Puck Line, while on the comeback the Flames of Calgary are +165 on Money Line and +1 ½ -200 on the Puck Line.
The 1st two Games of this series will be played in Anaheim with the Game 1 on the 30th of April at 10:10 PM ET and Game 2on the 3rd of May at 10:10 PM ET. The 3rd and 4th Games will be played in Calgary on the 5th of May and on the 8th of May 2015 with both games to puck-off at 9:40 PM ET. The 5th (of needed) with be played in Anaheim on the 10th of May with time TBD. The 6th Game (if needed) will be played at Calgary on the 12 of May and the Final 7th Game (if needed) will be played in Anaheim on the 14th of May 2015.
Now that the Duck of Anaheim have had plenty of rest after their sweep of the Jets of Winnipeg they claim they are ready to face another fresh team in this series against the Flames of Calgary. Calgary be the Canucks who were actually favored in that series, but the Flames style of play and front line excelled.
For those that Bet on NHL at an Sportsbook and are a Flames of Calgary fan, you’re team has been surprising and they have moved on to the 2nd round of the Cup playoffs, and they are a team that was certainly not expected to make it this far. For your information the Flames in their last 10 road games have won 7 and lost 3. In this series the Flames will go however far their front line trio of J. Hudler, S. Monahan and J. Gaudreau will take them, who were excellent in the 2014-15 regular seasons and thus far in the playoffs have played excellent has the together had some combine 36 goals scored, and in the Series with the Canucks they managed a combined 17 goals. Against the Ducks however, for them to succeed they need strong performances from their other linesman.
For the Ducks of Anaheim fans, if you measure them by their home winning streak against the Flames, you can surmise that Anaheim plays it best hockey at home against the Calgary. During the regular 2014-15 season Anaheim won against the Flames in 3 of their 5 matchups, at home rink the Ducks are 19-0 playing against the Flames, as the last time they lost on their home rink dates back to the 2005-06 seasons.
That incredible record of the Ducks at home will be challenged for sure in this series by the Flames as they continue to surprise the expectations. For the Ducks to control the Flames in this series they will have to take improve their advantages over Calgary, which means their defense has to dig in, and their offense go deeper that the Flames perform. They have a good top line with C. Perry and R. Getzlaf along with a 2nd line with J. Silfverberg and R. Kesler who preformed great in the 1st round, but in this series will need to step up their performances with the Flames as they have a very strong defense that ranked 1st in the 2014-15 seasons with blocks.
The media experts are suggesting that the Ducks of Anaheim will win this game 1 with a game total of Ducks 4 Flames 3.