Ducks using much-needed downtime to recover after very physical opening series
The Anaheim Ducks practiced in the comfort of the Honda Center on Friday morning, the day after returning from Winnipeg.
The first team to have already made it through the first round, the Ducks have the luxury of some rare downtime before looking ahead to the second round. The downtime will be needed, too, as the Ducks are coming off of a series that was every bit as brutal as it appeared to be.
Former #Ducks great, @TeemuSel8nne, still plays key role in #Winnipeg's hockey tradition http://t.co/CC3XrPpMIs #NHL pic.twitter.com/WSAzcbMNJP
— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) April 23, 2015
"That was a hard-hitting series," said Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. "You look at the numbers, you felt it on the ice. A lot of hard-fought battles, a lot of hard minutes played and it's nice to have this little break."
The next round likely will begin Thursday, with the Ducks facing one of two Pacific Division foes -- Calgary or Vancouver. With the uncertain nature of this wait-and-see period, the Ducks are preparing for all scenarios.
Perhaps the deepest team in the postseason, if not the entire league, the Ducks have several options when it comes to matching up against their next opponent. Coach Bruce Boudreau says that just because his lineup was successful in four games against the Jets, that doesn't mean it's the same lineup he will go with once the Western Conference semifinals begin.
"I think we've got really good players that are slotted in for different types of teams and roles," Boudreau said. "Because they played, I thought, really well, do we take that guy out for a guy that's better-suited for another team? I don't know, those are decisions that we haven't made yet."
Players who were expected to make big contributions in the postseason, like defenseman James Wizniewski and winger Jiri Sekac, have yet to see the ice this postseason. Their chances to play looked far different when they were acquired at the trade deadline, but others played have played well enough to stick in the lineup.
Down a center in the final two games of the series, winger Tomas Fleischmann moved to the middle on the Ducks' fourth line. His faceoff numbers were good considering the circumstances (7 won, 9 lost, 43.8 percent), but he contributed big on the little things and received high praise from his teammates and coaches. With Nate Thompson potentially coming back soon, there will be at least one odd man out.
Initially, the postseason plans for the blueline did not include defenseman Simon Despres. But he has played well enough to remain in the top four, forcing the coaches to make a decision between Clayton Stoner and Wizniewski for the sixth spot in the next round.
"I was thinking we were getting a raw, fairly green guy," Boudreau said. "But he came right in and had composure, was physical and did all the right things. He did it again in the (postseason) series, I thought, really well. I was wondering near the end of the season if he would come back to earth a little bit, but he was really good against a team that we really needed him to be good against."
The Ducks have far too many quality options to make the lineup decisions easy.
"If that's our major problem," Boudreau said. "I guess we're doing OK."
The other two teams can continue to beat each other up while Anaheim recovers, practices and weighs its lineup options. Who exactly the Ducks will look ahead to is not yet known. Until then, they'll enjoy being fans and watching the nightly drama unfold.
"The playoffs are fun and it's fun to be a part of and involved," Getzlaf said. "When we're not playing it's just kind of nice to watch what the other teams are doing and how they're playing."
