Not unlike most teams that remain standing, the Anaheim Ducks must overcome a hurdle that's induced more than just a few postseason face plants.

When Anaheim hosts the Nashville Predators in the terminal clash of its first-round series Wednesday, it'll be looking to snap a three-season run of having its postseason bid end in a Game 7 on home ice.

Historical context is most often overblown. And it's important to note that just four players - Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Andrew Cogliano, Cam Fowler - were around to experience each previous defeat. But without question, every player in the room feels the weight of those failures.

And for that, they're the wiser.

"Safe is going to get you nowhere," Cogliano said, according to Curtis Zupke of the Los Angeles Times. "Being ... timid, or hoping for something, is going to get you absolutely where it does, and that's where we've lost the last couple of years. We need to come out and be willing to out-compete them."

The Ducks were paralysed by two Jonathan Toews goals within the first 12 minutes of last season's culminating clash in the Western Conference Final versus the Chicago Blackhawks before falling behind 4-0. Just 11 months removed, those memories are still vivid, and an important reminder to force the issue.

"You can't go out there and play not to lose," Fowler said. "You have to play aggressive. You have to play on your toes. You have to do the things that got you here as a team and, for us, that's playing aggressive, that's (being) physical, because any time we sit back and we wait for teams, that's when we get in trouble."

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While the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking forward to Saturday's NHL Draft lottery results, they seem to have already scored a major victory on the prospect front.

With two goals and two assists in a London Knights playoff game Tuesday against the Erie Otters, Mitch Marner leads the OHL with 14 goals and 21 assists, and is averaging almost three points per game this postseason.

For the sake of comparison, former Otters center Connor McDavid recorded 49 points (21 goals, 28 assists) in 20 OHL playoff games last year, good for an average of 2.45.

Marner's mark through 13 games sits at 2.69.

Drafted fourth overall in 2015 - three spots behind McDavid - Marner could start plying his trade in Toronto as early as next season.

For now, an OHL championship and playoff MVP honors are well within his sights.

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It was going to take a lot to separate Sean Couturier from a Game 7 against the Washington Capitals.

The Philadelphia Flyers center admitted Monday to suffering a Grade 2-3 shoulder separation after being leveled into the boards by Alex Ovechkin in Game 1 of the first-round series, but said he was going to try to suit up for the series-deciding game if it had gone that far.

The risk of re-injury would have been high, and in the long run, perhaps it's better to have not tested the shoulder in such a high-pressure situation.

The Flyers lost in six, meaning the possibility is off the table, and Couturier can start focusing on next season while probably also thinking what could have been had he not been injured so early in the series.

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Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk needed help. The Detroit Red Wings knew that. Unfortunately, they didn't get enough of it.

A future in which the club belongs to Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar - and Dylan Larkin - is getting ever closer, especially if Datsyuk leaves for Mother Russia, and Nyquist and Tatar know they must be better next season and beyond.

"We can't throw everything on Pavel and Hank; those guys need help from us," Tatar said, writes The Detroit News' Ted Kulfan. "Last season me and Nyke stepped up and helped them. This year was a little bit different, a little tougher for me."

Nyquist iwill be 27 on Sept. 1, while Tatar will turn 26 on Dec. 1. They're in their prime.

"I have to do better," Nyquist said. "I didn't score as much as I wanted to. That's on me, and I just have to find a way to do better."

Tatar is heading into the last season of his contract, earning $2.75 million. He'll be a restricted free agent next summer, so if he's looking for more motivation, he knows where to find it. Nyquist, meanwhile, is locked up through 2018-19 at a cap hit of $4.75 million. At that price, he's got to produce at least 50 points.

Tatar, for his part, expects changes in Detroit, saying the Red Wings "have to do something different to get back on track."

The Red Wings' defense needs help - Detroit finished with a minus-10 goal differential, the only playoff team of 16 to allow more goals than it scored.

It's going to be an interesting offseason in Detroit, beyond the massive Datsyuk decision. Jimmy Howard is clearly the backup goalie to Petr Mrazek, but he's signed long term, while Mrazek is a restricted free agent. There are pieces in Nyquist, Tatar, Larkin, Justin Abdelkader, Andreas Athanasiou, and Anthony Mantha.

The Red Wings ranked 23rd in goals, scoring 2.5 per game. Problem is, they allowed 2.7. Shoring up the situation in goal, getting rid of Howard's contract, and fixing the defense should be priority number one for general manager Ken Holland, who has his work cut out for him.

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Game 7 brings out all the hockey fans.

NBCSN's broadcast of a Stanley Cup Playoffs winner-goes-on showdown between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks drew 1.353 million viewers Monday, setting a network record for the most-watched first-round game in history.

Viewership peaked at two million in the third period, according to NBC's press release.

The game was a hit locally in Chicago, as you'd expect, but it set a CSN Chicago record as the most-watched telecast ever, drawing a 19.1 household rating. The previous record of 13.7 was obliterated.

Canadians may not be watching, but Americans are.

- With H/T to Pro Hockey Talk

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