Tonight at 9 p.m. ET, the Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks take the ice at the Honda Center in Anaheim for Game 2 of their best-of-seven Western Conference Final series as part of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs.
Chicago looks to tie the series up before it shifts to Illinois while Anaheim hopes to shore up home ice and take a commanding 2-0 series lead on the road.
The Ducks toppled the Blackhawks 4-1 in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon to take a 1-0 series lead.
Game 2 can be live streamed for free by clicking here.
Anaheim's main superstars were mostly held in check in Game 1, but defenseman Hampus Lindholm (goal, assist), Kyle Palmieri and Nate Thompson (tally, helper) each scored and Jakub Silfverberg (goal, assist) added an empty netter in the win.
Brad Richards scored the lone goal for Chicago in the defeat.
The Blackhawks are running thin on defense and have been using their top four blueliners heavily, but the team feels it needs to work at helping its defenseman out.
"I think we definitely get it from the D-men a little bit when we don't get the puck deep, and when our D-men are tired they want to change and we try and do too much," captain Jonathan Toews said via NHL.com. "I think it's just having that mindset knowing that, even as forwards, we've got to keep our legs fresh if we want to keep that pace as high and as fast as we can."
Toews is second on Chicago with 11 points off of four goals and seven assists. Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane is tied for second in the playoffs with seven markers and knotted for fourth with 13 points while defenseman Duncan Keith has found the twine twice and added eight helpers for 10 points and logs heavy minutes every night.
The Ducks are 6-0 at the Honda Center in the postseason and 9-1 overall, but they feel they could improve on limiting the Blackhawks' traffic in front.
"It's something that we have to acknowledge and we have to get better at," coach Bruce Boudreau told NHL.com. "I mean, we weren't very good in our net play. We've got to get better at it because, I mean, we gave up way too many opportunities in the blue paint. If you watched practice [Monday], we were working on it a little bit out there today."
Corey Perry was held without a point for Anaheim in Game 1, but he is tied for second with a team-leading 15 points this postseason and seven goals. Ryan Getzlaf (two goals, 11 assists), who had an assist in the series-opener, is tied with Silfverberg (four tallies, nine helpers) for second on the Ducks with 13 points.
In between the pipes, Anaheim turns to Frederik Andersen and he stopped 32 of the 33 shots he faced in Game 1 and is 9-1 this spring with a 1.86 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage.
Chicago counters with Corey Crawford in the crease and he yielded three goals on 26 shots in the opening contest and is 5-2 in these playoffs with a 2.66 GAA and a .912 save percentage.
The Blackhawks look to tie the series while Anaheim hopes to take a 2-0 series lead when the puck drops live tonight from the Honda Center in Anaheim.
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