Ducks are hoping recent playoff history doesn’t repeat itself

With a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals within the Ducks’ reach Wednesday in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, Coach Bruce Boudreau said he will not change his message to the team because of the occasion.

“I know that both teams are going to work extremely hard,” he said after the Ducks practiced in advance of facing the Blackhawks on Wednesday night at Chicago’s United Center. “We just want to make sure we work hard properly and not use wasted energy and things of that nature. We’ve played them five times now. There’s not going to be a lot of surprises thrown at you. They might come out a little harder than they did in the last game, as we anticipate, because they’re at home and we had a 3-0 lead after one [in Game 5].

“I think we know how they’re going to play. Hopefully, we can do what we do and it comes up successful.”

He also said he had used history as a motivator for his team, which had a 3-2 series lead over Detroit in the first round in 2013, and a 3-2 lead over the Kings in the second round last spring, but failed to close out the series in both cases.

“One is don’t think just because you’ve got three [wins] that it automatically means you’re getting four. If you go over last year’s game, it was a 2-1 game that L.A. won,” he said of Game 6 of that series. “I thought we played a really good game. We played a really good road game. It should have actually been an overtime game but it wasn’t. When two teams are playing at their best, it’s usually some break or bounce that’s the difference in the game. Last year that was the difference.

“I think Game 6 against Detroit the previous year they won it in overtime, after they scored late to tie it up. I don’t think we want to play any different. We just want a different result.”

As for the Blackhawks’ repeated insistence that they feel confident facing Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen after scoring nine goals on him in the last two games, Ducks left wing Matt Beleskey said that works for the Ducks, too, against Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.

“We feel confident we can get to Crawford after scoring, what, nine goals in the last two games,” said Beleskey, who scored the overtime winner in Game 5 that gave the Ducks a 5-4 victory. “They can say that if they want. I know Freddie will be on his game tonight.”

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