Ailing Anaheim Ducks are focusing on being ready for the playoffs

The state of the short-handed Ducks has come to this — sometimes they cannot even make it through pregame nap time, and teammates are accidentally dinging each other on the ice.

Defenseman Sami Vatanen seemed fine Thursday morning, the team said, but in the afternoon was ill and scratched from that night’s game with flu. He did not travel with the team Friday, a team spokesman said, but could join them later.

During the game, right wing Jakob Silfverberg was felled by a dump-in shot to the hand by teammate Josh Manson and was wincing on the bench, but returned and is fine, the team said.

Already without five regular players, the Ducks are simply trying to finish the regular season upright. They can still win the Pacific Division if they win a tough back-to-back Saturday at Colorado and Sunday at Washington and the Kings lose their regular-season finale Saturday. If the Kings and Ducks finish tied in points, the Kings win the division via the first tiebreaker — regulation plus overtime victories.

But the Ducks’ finishing focus is preparing for the playoffs, and they beat that drum again — after a 2-1 loss to the Kings on Thursday — despite an outbreak of injuries that probably will extend into next week’s start of the playoffs.

“Right now, we’re searching for that a little bit and, in my opinion, we’re just a little too inconsistent,” defenseman

Cam Fowler said. “So these next two games … is a good test for us to get to the level we need to be come playoff time because you can’t just flip the switch when the playoffs come. You have to be going in playing at the top of your game or else you’re going to be in for a world of hurt come the first series.”

Coach Bruce Boudreau pointed out that his team hasn’t scored a five-on-five goal in three games, although they did have a four-on-four goal Thursday. They missed Vatanen, their leading defenseman scorer, and center Rickard Rakell, who is recovering from an appendectomy and might skate this weekend, Boudreau said.

Goalie Frederik Andersen might make his first appearance since suffering a concussion March 30.

“Talking to Freddie, he thinks he’s close,” Boudreau said. “Hopefully one of the games this weekend he can play in.”

The Ducks remain without injured forwards David Perron (shoulder), Brandon Pirri (upper body) and defenseman Kevin Bieksa (upper body). Boudreau had his own take on how they enter the postseason.

“I’ve been on teams that have won 10 in a row going into the playoffs and I’ve been on teams that have lost five in a row,” Boudreau said. “And the opposite of what you think is going to happen, happens. They play great or they play bad. We’ll be ready for the weekend and we’ll be ready next week. It’s as simple as that.”

Very special teams

The Ducks are trying to become the first team since the 1984-85 New York Islanders to lead the NHL in power play (22.9%) and penalty killing (87.1%).

The former is largely the work of first-year assistant coach Paul MacLean, who was specifically brought in to help the power-play unit and improved it from 28th last season. The latter is under assistant coach Trent Yawney, who said they didn’t change their approach.

Yawney credits the success to star players such as Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler buying in by blocking shots.

“When you see those guys — the best players doing it — it’s pretty hard for everyone else not to do it,” Yawney said.

NEXT UP

AT COLORADO

When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. PDT.

On the air: TV: Prime; Radio: 710.

Update: The Ducks did not practice Friday before their flight to Denver. They announced the signing of Northeastern left wing Kevin Roy to a two-year entry-level contract. Colorado has lost five straight and last won at home on March 9 against the Ducks, but has outscored Anaheim, 6-0, in two games this season.