Playoffs have become a grind for well-traveled Ducks

Thursday’s playoff contest will be the eighth in 16 days for the Ducks, who have gone consecutive days without a game just once in the last two weeks.

Add in flights that covered three time zones between those games and the postseason has become a grind for the Pacific Division champs.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” said Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano, whose team trails the Nashville Predators 2-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals. “So you have to manage yourself. You have to do things in terms of recovery and rest that give you the best chance.

“These are the moments you hope the summer [workouts] pay off and your nutrition and the things you do away from the rink pay off. When you get in the game your energy level takes over. Your adrenaline starts going.”

In an effort to help his team recover, coach Randy Carlyle kept the Ducks off the ice Wednesday while Nashville worked out at its downtown practice rink, where more than a dozen players went through a spirited practice. Afterward Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said the schedule is a factor for both teams.

“What I say about the playoffs — you and your opponent are on the same level playing field,” he said. “They’re dealing with exactly what we’re dealing with. So there’s really no advantage or disadvantage to anybody.”

That’s not entirely true. By winning their second-round series in six games, the Predators got a four-day break before starting the conference finals. And their postseason travel has been easier too. While the Ducks had to fly to Alberta three times in the first two rounds to play in Calgary and Edmonton, Nashville’s farthest trip covered less than 500 miles.

Plus the Predators never left the Central time zone, playing in Chicago and St. Louis in their first two series.

“It’s tough playing every other day and it’s not exactly a short flight from here to California,” Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said. “But it’s part of playoffs.”

Who let the dogs out?

If there’s been a soundtrack to the Predators’ franchise-best playoff run this spring, it’s AC/DC’s “Givin’ the Dog a Bone,” a guitar-heavy hard-rock anthem that has played at ear-splitting volume in the locker room after every victory. It’s the latest addition to a canine concept Laviolette began cultivating in the preseason when he had a vicious-looking blue bulldog painted on the dressing room door and above the lockers of team captain Mike Fisher and alternate captain Roman Josi.

“The concept … was more of an image. What you want your team to look like and how you would want them to play,” Laviolette said of the snarling beast, who is clutching a bone with the words “speed” and “attitude” written on it.

“We definitely know what our identity is,” veteran defenseman P.K. Subban said. “It’s kind of the ‘dog on a bone’ mentality.”

The team took things from there, giving the dog a name — Stanley, after the Stanley Cup — awarding a heavy metal chain similar to a dog chain to the top player in each win and making T-shirts with Stanley’s image on them.

“Stanley, you look at him, his knees are bent, he’s in an athletic stance, his mouth’s drooling,” said defenseman Matt Irwin, who won the dog chain once this season. “The intensity that he brings, that’s what we want to bring to our game every night.”

Taking the air out of Bridgestone

The last team to beat the Predators in a postseason game at Bridgestone Arena? The Ducks, who won twice there in the first round last year.

Nashville has reeled off 10 straight victories at home since over the last two postseasons, the longest streak in the NHL playoffs in 20 years. That’s a streak the Ducks will have to break if they hope to advance to the Stanley Cup Final since the Predators need just two more wins to take the series — and two of the last four games will be played in Nashville.

But Fowler says last year’s experience gives the team confidence it can do that.

“It’s important to have the belief that you can go into other buildings and kind of quiet the crowd and play,” he said. “We’ve proven to ourselves that we can do that.

“It’s more just about execution now, really get our game going in the right direction. And we need to do that if we’re going to steal one because they obviously play really well in that building.”

Ducks sign Mahura

The Ducks, already deep on defense, announced they have signed 19-year-old defenseman Josh Mahura to a three-year entry-level contract. Mahura was chosen in the third round and 85^th overall in the 2016 NHL draft. In 73 games this season with Regina and Red Deer of the Western Hockey League he had 17 goals (including eight on the power play), 53 points, and 57 penalty minutes. Mahura, 6 feet tall and 189 pounds, had eight goals and 21 points in 23 playoff games.

Times staff writer Helene Elliott contributed to this report.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Twitter: kbaxter11