Ducks’ Pronger is set for long playoff run

To this day, Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger vividly remembers one of the deepest disappointments in his career.

It was 2000 and it was supposed to be the year for the St. Louis Blues. A franchise synonymous with playoff failure finally unseated the Detroit Red Wings in the Central Division with an NHL-best 51 victories and 114 points.

The Kiel Center -- now known as Scottrade Center -- was filled every night and the city was into its hockey. Al MacInnis was the Blues’ spiritual leader and Pronger was their captain and the league’s most valuable player.

Then came the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Blues were matched against the unheralded San Jose Sharks in the first round. The memory still stings.

“Everything was going our way,” Pronger said. “We’re just kind of playing. There’s no real pressure or nothing. All of sudden it’s ramped up and you’re thinking, ‘We need to ramp up.’ And you don’t know how to get that extra gear.”

The top-seeded Blues were left stunned in seven games. Pronger isn’t expecting a similar predicament as the Ducks head into Game 1 of a Western Conference first-round series against the Minnesota Wild tonight at the Honda Center.

Neither team will need to flip the switch.

In winning their first Pacific Division title, the Ducks needed to go 13-3-4 in their last 20 games to fend off San Jose and Dallas. Minnesota, meanwhile, won 12 of its last 15 and went 30-9-6 over the second half of the season.

In fact, much of the ultra-competitive West is peaking at the right time.

San Jose capped a 52-win season with a 13-1-3 run as it enters its series against Nashville tonight, and Dallas finished with a 12-2-2 run going into tonight’s Game 1 against Vancouver. Vancouver is the hottest team, having gone a league-best 32-8-6 since Christmas.

“It helps your confidence to be playing well,” Ducks center Andy McDonald said. “You gain momentum at the end of the season. I know the confidence is there in the room and everyone feels like we’ve got a good team and we’re playing well.”

It helps to be a hot team. The Ducks’ two longest playoff runs each were fueled by a tremendous second half.

In 2003, the Ducks won 25 of their 41 games after midseason. Last season, they were arguably the league’s best team after Thanksgiving, winning 35 of 59 games following an 8-11-4 start.

Other playoff teams have flourished in the same way. Tampa Bay won 25 of its final 36 games in 2004 and carried the momentum into a run that ended with a Cup.

Minnesota defenseman Keith Carney, a member of the Ducks team that reached Game 7 of the 2003 Cup finals, said their play in the second half was critical.

“You can look at a lot of teams that fit this profile, especially this year,” said Carney, who spent four seasons in Anaheim. “It seems like everyone is playing well at this time of year and that should make for a great playoffs. I know that in 2003, that was our case.”

Catching fire at the end of the season is every team’s idea but playing in pressurized situations may have more meaning.

Exhibit A is the Red Wings, who haven’t tasted playoff success since winning their 10th Stanley Cup in 2002. In 2006, Detroit cruised to a league-best 58-16-8 record but was bounced in the first round by a Pronger-led Edmonton Oilers squad.

Pronger said the fact the Red Wings didn’t have much to play for late in the season might have proven decisive.

“How many times have you seen over the last 10 years where teams that won the President’s Trophy and had it wrapped up in February or March lose in the first or second round?” Pronger said. “It’s because they’re not in that playoff mind-set.”

McDonald said the difference with the Ducks was they still were after a division title and home-ice advantage.

“We weren’t taking these last few games off,” he said. “We were fighting for points.”

In the end, success in the playoffs is unpredictable.

Last season, Edmonton won 11 of its last 25 games and barely made the playoffs. Carolina was 7-7-2 down the stretch but it had already locked up the Southeast Division title. Carolina won the Cup by beating Edmonton.

Last week, New Jersey was in first place in the Atlantic Division but that didn’t stop General Manager Lou Lamoriello from removing Claude Julien as coach and installing himself because he didn’t think the Devils were ready for the playoffs.

Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, a key contributor to the Devils’ three Stanley Cups, had his own story of Lamoriello.

“Lou fired our coach with nine games remaining,” Niedermayer said, referring to Robbie Ftorek being sacked in 2000. “I won’t forget that one. If you’re playing well going into the playoffs, that doesn’t guarantee anything.”

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Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this report.

eric.stephens@latimes.com