Tonight at 10 p.m. ET, the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks take the ice at the Honda Center in Anaheim to open up their best-of-seven Western Conference Round 2 series as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Calgary disposed of the higher-seeded Vancouver Canucks in six games to advance in Round 1 while Anaheim made quick work of the Winnipeg Jets, sweeping them away in four games.
These are the last two teams standing in the Pacific Division bracket and the winner of this series moves on to play the winner of the set between the Chicago Blackhawks and Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference Final.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
The Flames are in the postseason for the first time since 2009 and won a series for the first time since 2004 when they topped the Canucks.
It's a tall task for Calgary to take Game 1 as it hasn't won in the Honda Center since 2006 and is 0-15-5 in its last 20 regular season games in Anaheim.
The Flames aren't buying into any hexes.
"Those are different teams, so you can talk to those guys about a curse," Calgary center Joe Colborne said per NHL.com. "We feel pretty confident going up against this group. We've played them pretty well at home over the past couple years. It's something that we're going to have to go in on the road and steal one, and get back here in front of our fans and go from there."
The Flames top line of Jiri Hudler (3-3--6) Calder Trophy finalist Johnny Gaudreau (2-4--6) and sophomore sensation Sean Monahan (2-3--5) were a huge reason the team advanced to Round 2. David Jones also had five points last round while 18-year-old Sam Bennett scored two huge goals and finished with three points.
The Ducks have had exactly one week off since knocking off the Jets and will be well-rested for tonight's game.
Corey Perry paced Anaheim with seven points in the opening round off of three goals and four assists while Jakub Silfverberg had six points off of two tallies and four helpers.
Ryan Kesler (three goals, two assists) and Sami Vatanen (two markers, three helpers) each had five points. Ryan Getzlaf was limited to one goal against Winnipeg, but had four points.
Anaheim will look to beat a familiar foe in net as Jonas Hiller is set to start against his old team.
"It should be a great challenge for us," Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau told NHL.com. "He knows where our shooters, most of them, shoot. We know where most of the goals have gone in on him. But in the end I don't think it's going to be a battle between Hiller and the Ducks. It's going to be between the Flames and the Ducks. He'll be a big part of it, but it's not going to be the final component."
Hiller went 3-2 in Round 1 for Calgary and allowed 11 goals on 159 shots while compiling a 2.20 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.
Anaheim will counter with Frederik Andersen between the pipes and he yielded nine goals on 118 shots in the opening round while fastening a 4-0 record, 2.20 GAA and a .924 save percentage.
Round 2 begins when the puck drops on the Flames and Ducks with Game 1 live tonight from the Honda Center in Anaheim as part of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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