Toronto Maple Leafs: Round 1 Western Conference NHL Playoff Predictions
By Luke Ryan
Calgary Flames vs Dallas Stars
The Calgary Flames achieved something the Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t this season and that was having three players among the league’s top 30 point scorers.
That makes them a huge threat to sweep their series with the Stars. However, Dallas still has enough about them that they should make this a real match-up.
Regardless of their final league positions, the Dallas Stars will be riding into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with some momentum as they were playing for their spot essentially until the last week of the campaign.
If the Stars are to overcome the Pacific Division champions, they need some of their bigger names to fire. Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz and Jason Robertson have been their shining lights this season.
Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have been relatively quiet and that should absolutely be a concern for the Flames.
For all that fear though, the Dallas Stars will need to overcome the fact their goaltending has fallen on Jake Oettinger this year with injuries to far more playoff experienced names, Braden Holtby and Anton Khudobin.
At the opposite end, the Flames have the league leader for shutouts this season in Jacob Markstrom, while Dan Vladar has shown himself to be no pushover.
Despite being the league sixth placed team against the fifteenth place team, it’s not going to be an easy match-up for the Calgary Flames and they could find themselves very much at risk of an upset.
With that said though, it’s hard to overlook the talent the Calgary Flames have on their top line.
The way that Matthew Tkachuk plays the game is made for the Stanley Cup Playoffs and for that reason, it’s hard to look past the Flames.
Dallas aren’t about to make it easy for them, but the Flames will get it done in 6 games.