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Will the Loss of Stephane Robidas Prove Costly for Anaheim? |
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Yes, the Ducks are still up two games to one in their opening round best-of-7 series with the Dallas Stars and yes they still have home ice advantage, but somehow this series feels like it's slipping away.
After managing to hold on for two one-goal victories at Honda Center, the Ducks were blanked 3-0 by Kari Lehtonen and the Stars.
Lehtonen made 37 saves to earn his first career playoff shutout and win. Jamie Benn, Valeri Nichushkin and Ryan Garbutt provided all the offense needed for Dallas in the third game of the Western Conference First Round series.
Game 4 is set for Wednesday in Dallas and it should be a doozie.
The momentum is clearly shifting towards Dallas end of the ice and Anaheim has to find a way to turn the tide back in their favor. If they can, they will have to do it without the services of defenseman Stephane Robidas.
The former Dallas Star fractured his right leg at the start of the second period. Robidas was tossed aside by Garbutt in front of Lehtonen and was unable to get back up on his power. He had to be helped off the ice and was later taken to a local hospital were the fracture was discovered.
The loss of Stephane removes valuable veteran leadership from Anaheim's defensive group and I believe weakens them considerably for the rest of this series and moving forward should they advance.
The Ducks are lucky to have escaped Anaheim with two wins in their pocket. I believe they were fortunate to win game one and I thought Dallas looked like the hungrier team in game two. Dallas's team speed could become the difference as the series moves along, especially from Benn who already has two goals and an assist through three games.
Back to Robidas...
The 12-year vet was acquired from the Stars on March 4 and played his first game for the Ducks on March 18. He had five points ( 1g 4a) in 14 games for Anaheim and was a stabilizing force on the blueline. His teammates and head coach Bruce Boudreau are calling his loss a "huge" because of the way he seamlessly fit into their system.
The Ducks will have to make due with the likes of Cam Fowler, Bryan Allen, Hampus Lindholm, Francois Beauchemin and so on. That should not a foreign concept for this team. They battled injury after injury during the regular season and still locked up the best record in the West. BUT...these are the playoffs and all that regular season talk gets tossed out the window.
Can they keep it together and put Robidas' injury and the game 3 shutout behind them?
Thanks for reading!