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NHL on NBCSN: Ducks aim to play postseason-style hockey against Stars

Ryan Getzlaf, Cody Eakin

Ryan Getzlaf, Cody Eakin

AP

NBCSN will continue its coverage of the 2014-15 campaign tonight with a doubleheader. The second of the two contests will feature the Anaheim Ducks hosting the Dallas Stars, with the puck scheduled to drop at 10:30 p.m. ET. In addition to NBCSN, you can also watch the game and pre-show online.

The Stars have been a very good team lately and had they found a way to put it all together earlier in the season, they probably would have secured a postseason spot. The fact that they’re instead mathematically eliminated has caught some off guard, including Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano.

“Dallas – it’s pretty surprising they’re not in the playoffs because they’re so good,” Cogliano told the Orange County Register.

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For a while now Anaheim has been essentially -- and now officially -- locked into the first seed in the Pacific Division. Whether or not they finish with the top seed overall in the conference remains to be seen, but regardless they’re in a very comfortable position. That can be dangerous though. Teams that have to claw their way into the playoffs won’t have any trouble adjusting to the postseason atmosphere because they’ve been playing in it already. Meanwhile, Anaheim has to fight to stay sharp.

“You want to win the games, but I think you just got to play the game the right way and how you’re going to be playing once playoffs starts,” Cogliano said. “You just can’t turn it on. Those teams have been turned on for the last month or so.”

In that regard playing against Dallas should be a good test for the Ducks, because the Stars are a good team regardless of what their position in the standings might suggest. Although Dallas is also a squad with little left to play for, the Stars should still put forward a strong effort with an eye towards 2015-16.

“When you don’t make the playoffs playing in these games are tough,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said, per the Dallas Morning News. “It’s frustrating. You try not to create bad habits. We have a mini training camp here, so we’ll work on our systematic stuff and try to get better.”

All of Dallas’ core players are under contract for the 2015-16 campaign, so the Stars will have another chance to show that this team can do great things. In the meantime, they have an opportunity to make a statement against one of the best squads in the league.

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