In an attempt to avoid giving the Los Angeles Kings any bulletin-board material, Bruce Boudreau may have inadvertently provided some playoff-push fuel to the Calgary Flames and Winnipeg Jets Thursday.
The Anaheim Ducks coach clinched the Pacific Division crown with a win over the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday and appeared on Hockey Central at Noon to discuss his team heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Two weeks ago, some charged Boudreau with showing weakness when he told reporters he hopes the cross-town rival Kings — who eliminated the Ducks in a seven-game 2014 conference semifinal — miss out on the post-season.
Thursday, Boudreau dismissed that wish as a “tongue-in-cheek” statement he made in jest before a press conference began.
“They’re going to make it,” Boudreau said of the defending champions. “So it was a moot point. I gotta worry about my team.
“I got enough trouble just concentrating about my group. I can’t worry if L.A.’s going to make it or Winnipeg’s going to make it or whoever’s going to make it. Whatever happens, happens.”
If the Kings, who sit two points out with a game in hand, do qualify, that means Winnipeg or Calgary will be left on the outside.
Boudreau says coaches can get caught up examining the playoff scenarios every night at this time of year: “You just drive yourself nuts thinking about this stuff.”
Kings coach Darryl Sutter delivered an interesting quote himself last week, when he said it’s more difficult to qualify for the playoffs than to win the Cup.
“It would be an exciting series,” Boudreau said of a Kings-Ducks rematch. “The way we’re looking at it is, all the teams are good. Sometimes you meet the best team in the first round, so when you start wishing for teams not to be in, that usually comes up to bite you in the butt.”
Boudreau also spoke glowingly of captain Ryan Getzlaf’s leadership and addressed the uncertainty of the Ducks’ crease. The coach has called on both Frederik Andersen and John Gibson down the stretch, and the tandem has put up comparable numbers.
Still, the coach refused to divulge which one he’ll tap to start in net for the Ducks in Anaheim when the Ducks host one of the two wild-card teams two weeks from now.
“I’ve got three games to make a decision,” he said, playing coy. “Game 1’s starter will probably be Game 2’s starter.”
