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Canucks and Stars may go the distance in West quarterfinals

Apr 11, 2007 - 1:26 PM Dallas (49-26-7) at Vancouver (50-25-7) 10:00 pm EDT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Western Conference quarterfinal series between the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars likely will resemble the regular-season set between the clubs.

The third-seeded Canucks welcome the sixth-seeded Stars on Wednesday for the first game of a best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal matchup.

Each of the four meetings this campaign were 2-1 decisions, with each team winning twice. As if that does not reflect the closeness of the matchups enough, Vancouver needed a shootout to post one of its triumphs, while Dallas emerged victorious in overtime on one occasion.

While both clubs possess a top-flight goaltender, the low-scoring affairs likely had more to do with their weak offenses. The Canucks won the Northwest Division despite finishing fourth among the five teams with just 222 goals.

In the Pacific, the Stars also were fourth with 226 tallies - one fewer than the Los Angeles Kings, who trailed Dallas in the standings by 39 points.

The intensity normally associated with the playoffs surely will be present in this series. The lack of scoring also will be with Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Dallas' Marty Turco in goal.