Ducks hope their league-leading special teams remain effective in playoffs

Toward the end of a long day of practice and off-ice preparation, the Ducks allowed themselves one brief moment of appreciation.

During their special teams meeting Wednesday, they gave a collective nod to achieving something that hadn’t been done in the NHL in more than 30 years — leading the league in power play and penalty killing.

“We kind of just took a step back and said, ‘Congratulations,’” Cam Fowler said. “But besides being in the record books, it doesn’t mean a whole lot heading into the playoffs. Now we have to carry over into the postseason what we did during the regular season, which is have confidence in the penalty kill and the power play, and if we do that, we’re a very difficult team to compete against.”

If the Ducks can come close to mirroring their stellar special teams, it will go a long way in what is expected to be a tight first-round series against Nashville that begins Friday at Honda Center.

Anaheim was the first team since the 1984-85 New York Islanders to finish the regular season with the NHL’s best power play (23.2%) and penalty killing (87.2%) units.

It was the first time in franchise history that they were No.1 in penalty killing, and that underlines the narrative of their season. The Ducks had to focus on defense during a baffling awful start, and it remained a backbone.

Ryan Kesler, one of a handful of Ducks who plays on both units, said it helped to have Ryan Getzlaf emerge in the second half of the season. Kesler is dominant in faceoffs and had the most blocked shots (92) by a forward in the NHL this season. Getzlaf was second among Ducks forwards with 61.

They also have hounding forecheckers such as Andrew Cogliano, Jakob Silfverberg and Shawn Horcoff, directed by assistant coach Trent Yawney.

“We have so many guys that can PK on this team and, really, no matter who takes the penalty, we’re comfortable at going out there and killing,” Kesler said.

Kesler pointed out that defense and penalty killing aren’t the sexiest aspects of the game, but it’s what gets teams deep into the spring.

“We need to have them for the postseason too, because we all know it doesn’t matter who you are, special teams become very important,” Yawney said.

The ascension of the power play was dramatic, from 28th last season. Anaheim was tied for 19th on Jan.13 but scored power-play goals in 19 of its final 28 games. The Ducks were 22-0-1 when scoring with the man advantage, from Nov. 30 to March 5.

Ducks General Manager Bob Murray didn’t envision that steep of a change. Murray had become so frustrated with their ineffectiveness — finishing 28th and 22nd on the man advantage the past two years — that he replaced former assistant coach Brad Lauer with Paul MacLean last off-season.

MacLean, formerly a head coach in Ottawa, has declined interview requests. Murray said MacLean brought a presence to the unit in his second stint as an Anaheim assistant.

“Paul is very calm and relaxed as he is doing things,” Murray said. “Even when it didn’t start quite right, he just kept with the plan he had. He kept harping on the same things. Repetition, repetition … Let’s just go with what we worked on.”

Murray would like the power play to be “crucial” in the playoffs, and it should be a challenge against a Predators team “that probably has the best defense in the league,” Kesler said.

Statistically speaking, the Ducks can make that claim with the fewest goals allowed. Kesler noted that everyone starts back at zero in the postseason, and the Ducks seek a different coda to their place in history.

The Islanders’ early 1980s dynasty had given way to the Edmonton Oilers by 1985, and they were eliminated in the second round. Fowler and Getzlaf weren’t born yet. Kesler was 1.

The legendary names were still there: Mike Bossy, Denis Potvin, Bryan Trottier, Bob Nystrom and a young Pat LaFontaine. Bossy had 58 goals that season.

“I guess to be mentioned in the same conversation as them is pretty cool, but those teams won a lot of Stanley Cups as well, which we’re looking to do,” Fowler said.

Injury updates

Forwards David Perron and Rickard Rakell and defenseman Kevin Bieksa practiced for a second straight day Thursday, and Boudreau said, “I think most of them will be eligible to play.”

Perron and Rakell are returning from a shoulder injury and an appendectomy, respectively, and Bieksa is thought to be slightly behind with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Clayton Stoner said he has an upper-body injury. He is not expected to be available for at least Game 1.