ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — When Joel Quenneville took over the long-suffering Anaheim Ducks nearly a year ago, the veteran head coach cautiously said he hoped to get his new team into contention this season for its first playoff spot since 2018.
His young, hungry Ducks made it to the playoffs, all right — and they're clearly not just happy to be here.
After nearly winning the Pacific Division in a surprisingly strong regular season, these Ducks ended the franchise's eight-year postseason drought — and now they've eliminated Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the two-time defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers with a six-game series victory in the first round.
Anaheim finished it off with a 5-2 victory in Game 6 on Thursday night, calmly dispatching its more experienced opponents with the poise and potency that this team has shown for long stretches this season. Quenneville could only applaud as his team took the next step on its journey.
“It's a huge win,” Quenneville said. “I’m happy for the players. I'm happy for the fans. And now we've got a taste of playoff hockey, and I think we can feel at this moment that it's so much fun playing games that have the meaning, and the building being as loud and excited as it is. It seems to grow from this level on."
The future has finally arrived in Orange County, and the raucous sellout crowds that have supported this team all season long are loving the return of playoff hockey for the team that won California's first Stanley Cup in 2007.
The Ducks also had one of the NHL's best teams while winning five straight division titles through the middle of the 2010s, but those teams twice lost in the Western Conference finals before Anaheim fell into a rut of seven straight years without a playoff berth.
Those years of high draft picks have led to a roster with impressive high-end talent in its young core, and general manager Pat Verbeek added a slate of veteran signees to bolster it. Quenneville was the next huge piece of the puzzle, and the three-time Stanley Cup winner as a head coach has guided the Ducks to a first-round postseason upset.
“We know that (at) our best is a really good team when we're playing the right way,” said Troy Terry, the longest-serving Ducks player since 2018. “We proved it to ourselves that we can do it consistently in a series, and our group should have a lot of confidence going forward in what makes us a good team.”
After stumbling into a 2-6-2 slump down the stretch and blowing the division lead, the third-place Ducks drew the playoff-tested Oilers in the first round. It looked like a nightmare matchup for an inexperienced team — but the Ducks were ready.
Anaheim stormed to a 3-1 series lead while pumping 20 goals past the Oilers, who looked slower and creakier than the Ducks. Edmonton showed off its postseason poise in Game 5, throttling the Ducks in a 4-1 victory and putting the onus on their inexperienced opponents to finish off the series.
And that's exactly what the Ducks did: They scored three goals in the first period, jumped to a 4-1 lead after two, and never allowed the Oilers to get up enough momentum to seriously threaten a comeback.
“I’m just proud with the maturity level of that game,” Terry said. “For how inexperienced and young our team is, it’s exciting moving forward.”
Anaheim also got a star-making performance from defenseman Jackson LaCombe, who led the team with nine points while also leading its defensive effort against McDavid and Draisaitl. LaCombe, a late addition to the U.S. Olympic team last winter, led the Ducks with a plus-6 rating while playing 22 1/2 minutes per game and taking just one penalty.
“A lot of us young guys are learning a lot as we go along, and I thought we got better throughout the series,” LaCombe said. “It means a lot for us.”
The Ducks have extended their breakthrough season for at least another couple of weeks, and they're relatively healthy. Their next opponent will be either the Vegas Golden Knights — another experienced playoff team loaded with veterans — or the Utah Mammoth, who are just as green as Anaheim.
Either way, the Ducks and their fans are thrilled to take the next step on this unlikely journey.
“Now we get to experience another round, and I think this is healthy for us,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got a young group that ... you don’t know how they’re going to play, but you’re certainly excited what the upside is.”
___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL
