ANAHEIM, Calif.—Would you believe the Kings and Ducks have never met in the playoffs? It’s true. Though the two teams have been playoff fixtures in recent years (Anaheim has had eight berths in the last 11 years, and L.A.’s made it in five straight), they’ve somehow managed to avoid each other in the post-season until now. And yet they have a considerable, quirky and contentious regular-season history, which should help make their Pacific Division Final series one to remember.
The rivalry has included loads of physical play, including a rare fight from Teemu Selanne against former King Brad Richardson, and no shortage of oddities. The two teams met in London and also under the lights at Dodger Stadium. While outdoor hockey may not scream Golden State, they had a quintessentially Southern Californian affair in 2009 when an earthquake hit during the first period of a game at Staples Center.
Los Angeles has the momentum from coming back from 3–0 in their first-round series with San Jose and the all-time edge over Anaheim, but since 2003 the Ducks have as many Stanley Cups and finals appearances as the Kings do in nearly half a century of existence. Anaheim also won the 2013–14 season series 4-0-1. All the pieces are there for the Ducks to keep the dominance going in this series—they just need them to fall into place. They have depth, star power, speed, aggressiveness and balance throughout their lineup. What they haven’t had is consistency in many areas of their game.
That instability is subtle in most areas, but their goaltending situation clearly illustrates why regular-season depth may not translate to post-season success. The Ducks may have three number-one caliber netminders,including AHL starter John Gibson, yet none of them have asserted themselves as the top dog. Veteran Jonas Hiller will likely assume the starting role once more after slamming the door shut in a Game 6 comeback that eliminated Dallas. Rookie Frederik Andersen played most of the first-round series for the Ducks, but could not seem to find his top form as the series progressed.
The Ducks will need strong goaltending, because the Kings will almost certainly have it at the other end. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry predictably paced the Ducks with seven points apiece in round one, but Anaheim can ill afford a power outage like they had among their top players against the Detroit Red Wings last season
That said, the team has a deep forward group with potential to provide secondary scoring. Emerson Etem appeared poised for a coming-out party after making a strong contribution in last year’s playoffs. Although he wound up spending much of the regular season sharpening his skills with a scoring role in the AHL, Etem is back with the club now. Etem is not only a potentially explosive scorer, but a local product who grew up pulling for the Kings in Long Beach, Calif. He brings the dynamism of a top-line forward to a bottom-six role, which only adds to the production the likes of Nick Bonino, Andrew Cogliano, Teemu Selanne, Patrick Maroon and Devante Smith-Pelly can provide.
The Kings, meanwhile, will count on balanced scoring on offence, a healthy Drew Doughty on defence and the superb play they had in net during the second half of their first-round series with San Jose. A combination of uncharacteristically passive defence, bad bounces and 2012 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick being less than a leviathan led to Quick’s GAA ballooning above seven in the first two games against San Jose. Darryl Sutter and his veteran group made a number of adjustments, and in the final three games of the series Quick allowed just two goals.
Drew Doughty has not only led the Kings in ice time but he has played minutes that have been remarkable in terms of both quality and significance. Doughty has been dealing with a shoulder injury since late in the season and even a small dip in his play—he also leads the Kings with six playoff assists—could spell disaster for the Kings. Willie Mitchell’s status is questionable at best, and the harder the Kings lean on their less-experienced defencemen the shakier their foundation will become.
Anze Kopitar had 10 total points and scored in each of their seven playoff games so far while Justin Williams has continued to excel on the grand stage. Even so, the Kings will need more of the jump their grinders showed after being criticized publicly by Sutter early in the San Jose series.
On the other end of the ice, however, decidedly lesser-experienced forward Tyler Toffoli has emerged as the type of sniper he was in the OHL. He scored the game-winning goals in Games 4 and 5 and notched the series-sealing insurance goal against San Jose in Game 7. If he can continue to surge offensively, the Kings will have added two natural scorers to their 2012 Cup-winning bunch between Toffoli and trade deadline acquisition Marian Gaborik.
Although the Ducks’ forecheckers’ ability to neutralize Doughty may matter most in the big picture, it would be impossible to overlook the Getzlaf-Kopitar matchup in terms of significance as to who wins this series. These are two of the finest, most complete centermen in the league and they are both big men who play a 200-ft. game. While Jarret Stoll and Saku Koivu provide strong defensive options for their respective teams, look for plenty of nose-to-nose action between the marquee centermen. Getzlaf was nominated for the Hart Trophy and finished second in league scoring. Kopitar led the Kings in scoring for the seventh straight season while also earning a long-overdue nod as a Selke Trophy finalist.
In the end, this series could come down to who starts stronger and which team makes more effective adjustments. The Kings could ill afford to fall behind after their Herculean comeback against the Sharks, although Sutter has been a master of in-series adjustments since his arrival in L.A. The Ducks and their coach, Bruce Boudreau, are known for their adaptiveness, but their unstable goaltending situation and some inexperience in key positions means a substantial series deficit might be impossible to overcome. This one has the look of a seven-gamer, easy.