The Ducks continue to power their way through the Western Conference playoffs, unfettered and unbeaten after six games. They tied a franchise record with their sixth straight victory Sunday, a 3-0 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 2.
A few more take-aways from another comprehensive showing on Sunday night:
Defense never resting
They were far, far from the upper echelon in terms of where the defense ranked during the regular season, just behind the Flames and the Hurricanes.
This series? The Ducks have allowed one goal in six periods against Calgary and that came in garbage time of what ended up as a 6-1 victory in Game 1.
“The first 20 minutes we looked like 20 strangers out there,” said Calgary Coach Bob Hartley of Game 2. “Like we’d just met for the first time. They were all over us.”
They’ve done a superb job containing the Flames in the neutral zone and preventing speedy zone entries. Ducks defenseman Simon Despres has the extended statistics crowd fairly gushing.
Big players, playing big … again
It’s an old saying but it holds true for a reason.
Depth is all well and good but you want your best players to lead the way in the playoffs. Ducks center Ryan Kesler was stellar early and set up the game’s first goal, and then handed the baton to Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf.
Perry and Getzlaf are the league’s top two scorers in the playoffs with 13 points and 10 points, respectively. Getzlaf is tied with three other players for second. They’ve combined for 12 points in the series against Calgary.
Getzlaf is the franchise leader in terms of postseason points, 84 points in 87 games, and with his showing on Sunday night, Perry is tied with the now retired Teemu Selanne for second with 69 points in 80 games. Selanne’s numbers were achieved in 96 games.
More odes to Freddie Andersen
Again, the Ducks were praising the calming influence of goalie Frederik Andersen, who recorded his first playoff shutout.
Andersen’s goals-against average is 1.64 with a .942 save percentage in the playoffs. The only goalie with a better save percentage in this postseason – with at least four appearances – was Ottawa’s Craig Anderson (.972).
“I’m pretty happy with the first two games, but it’s all about the next game right now and we’ve got to be focused and get ready to play in a tough building up there and try to get a stranglehold on the series,” Andersen said.
Said Kesler: “We knew they were going to give their best push, and I thought we generated a lot in the first and I thought they came back strong in the second. They threw a lot at Freddie, but Freddie stood tall and threw up a zero for us.”
Twitter: @reallisa