The Ducks might not have been active Tuesday night but a big move was still made: Anaheim clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Ducks secured a postseason berth with the Dallas Stars' loss on Tuesday.
The Ducks got off to their hottest start in franchise history this season and maintained the points lead in both the NHL and the Western Conference for most of the season. But March has been a tough month for the Ducks. Marred by a slump since the NHL trade deadline, the Ducks have lost six of their last nine games, slipping to a tie for third in the West.
However, a favorable schedule awaits Anaheim in the home stretch. The month finishes with a three-game Canada swing against Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg -- four of the bottom five teams in the Western Conference.
The Ducks will have to face the Kings, who are nine points away in the Pacific Division, in Los Angeles in April, but a 2-0-1 record facing their Freeway Series rivals show a favorable edge.
We've clinched our spot in the playoffs! #UnfinishedBusiness pic.twitter.com/cdxnsVO1Rv
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) March 26, 2014
This season marks the 20th anniversary for a franchise that has won one Stanley Cup and two Conference Championships. There is one trophy has to win and that's the President's Trophy. But it's not something that is weighing heavily on the team.
"I won it once, it didn't do me any good," head coach Bruce Boudreau said last month. "It has nothing to do with the trophy. I think you'd like to be No. 1, but nobody talks about it because that's not our goal. We don't say, 'We've got 82 games, let's be the President's Trophy winner.' Our goal is always to be better than we were last year and so far we're on that pace."
There are 11 games remaining in the season and whether or not they slump to the finish of the regular season, it's a brand new season come April 16 and the Ducks will be in attendance.
