The eight-year drought is over. The Ducks formally return to postseason hockey as they head to Edmonton to tackle the Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Round 1 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Puck drop is about for 7 p.m. PT and can air domestically on KCOP-13 and Victory+. The sport can also be nationally televised on ESPN2.
“The best part about winning a Cup is trying to win the Cup,” head coach Joel Quenneville mentioned. “That starts when they drop the puck in the first game.”
Led by Quenneville, who has three Stanley Cup championships to his identify, the Ducks completed third in the Pacific with their finest file since 2018 (44-33-6). The staff had 26 comeback wins, tied for the NHL lead and a franchise file and set a brand new franchise file in objectives scored (265). Anaheim had 16 video games the place it scored five-plus objectives for an ideal 16-0-0 file.
Based on the staff’s present roster, solely 10 gamers have postseason expertise. Radko Gudas is a type of 10, as he made it to the Stanley Cup Finals with Florida in 2023, and he shared his staff’s mindset going into this collection in “one of the biggest cities to play hockey.”
“We spoke about it a little bit, but overall, we’re just more excited than anything,” Gudas mentioned. “We want to see how we perform and the way we’re going to battle today.”
Despite the group being comparatively younger, Quenneville mentioned not a lot actually modifications from common season to the playoffs. Yes, there’s a heightened pleasure, however he believes his group ought to channel that feeling and have it translate by way of their play.
“Nothing’s that much different about it except the vibe,” he talked about. “I think that they have to learn everyday is going to be a good experience, a positive experience, and take the fun out of each and every day and apply it going forward. It gives you some excitement to the game knowing it is a special time … You can feel it, you can see it, and then you get the experience and you can apply it and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
If there’s one shared focus for the Ducks this collection, it’s honing in on bringing offensive firepower to the ice as they face an Edmonton staff with a plethora of playoff expertise that’s identified to rating.
“We’re going to have to have it,” Quenneville mentioned of the offensive facet of the sport. (*1*)
Leon Draisaitl, who missed the ultimate 14 video games of the common season with a lower-body harm, stays a game-time choice for tonight’s date with the Ducks.
“No updates,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch mentioned. “As we’ve said before, we expect him sometime during the first round. Now (in) playoffs, it’s a little more secret as to what our lineups will be and we’re not going to announce who’s playing and what our lines are going to be exactly.”
Secret lineups apart, one factor’s for sure, and that’s the truth that these groups shall be taking part in one another in a seven-game collection.
Troy Terry, the longest-tenured present Ducks participant, mentioned how the mindset shifts from common season to postseason, and the way sport planning in opposition to the identical staff turns into extra distinctive because the collection goes on.
“That’s kind of what I’m excited for, the chess match of playing one team and be able to kind of systematically change to whatever their tendencies are,” Terry mentioned. “I’m enjoying from a hockey standpoint, being able to maybe limit some of their time and space and I think just five-on-five, not giving them too much space and too much respect.”
