Veteran Ducks calm, cool

Pacific champs not buying 'underdog' talk, Maurice's gamesmanship

By: Tim Campbell Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Thursday, Apr. 16, 2015

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Along with a stiff Santa Ana wind, the tempest blew into Honda Center on Wednesday -- the arrival of the Winnipeg Jets and about two dozen accredited members of the media ahead of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Jets and Anaheim Ducks.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/04/2015 (3833 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — Along with a stiff Santa Ana wind, the tempest blew into Honda Center on Wednesday — the arrival of the Winnipeg Jets and about two dozen accredited members of the media ahead of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series between the Jets and Anaheim Ducks.

What else would you expect when a Canadian team is involved in a series?

“I don’t think (anything) from a coaching aspect,” Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau said after his team’s practice Wednesday. “You’re playing another team and whether it’s in Canada or the U.S., I don’t think that makes a difference.

Jeff McIntosh / the canadian press files
Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf knows his club is facing a very formidable opponent in the first round, which opens tonight at the Honda Center. — Jeff McIntosh / the canadian press files Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf knows his club is facing a very formidable opponent in the first round, which opens tonight at the Honda Center.

“Probably if there was any big difference at all would be that I’m getting more calls from my friends back home because of the exposure the Canadian media gives.”

Asked to elaborate, Boudreau cracked a Boudreau grin, which is to say, not much of one.

“They’re my friends, so they’re saying ‘Good luck,’ ” the coach said. “I’m not hearing from the guys that don’t like me in Canada. But you’ve got a lot of family and friends. And my mother’s happier when we go to Winnipeg that the games will be on earlier.

“We all know growing up back home what it’s like there now, what hockey means to Canadians. Everybody knows the importance of the games. Especially this year with five Canadian teams in it as compared to one Canadian team in it last year. It’s going to be quite exciting in Canada.”

Boudreau knows full well about the attention, being against a Canadian team or that which is focused on his and his team’s recent playoff fortunes.

The Ducks have won three straight Pacific Division titles but in the last two springs, failed to reach the conference final. His own playoff record is 1-2 in series in Anaheim, 2-4 previously with Washington and 27-32 in games.

“What pressure?” Boudreau said. “There’s pressure on every team to win. And everybody puts the pressure on themselves. We want to win as badly as Winnipeg wants to win and as badly as any of the other 14 teams want to win.

“You put that pressure on yourself.”

Other series chatter continued as expected, including the Jets continuing to stake out the ground as underdogs in the series, though not quite as earnestly as earlier in the week.

And the Ducks didn’t care to hear much of that.

“Once you’ve learned it in the past, there is no underdog,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “Everybody’s just here playing. We all made the playoffs. There is no best teams in this conference. We’re taking them the same way we would anybody.”

Asked again about the Jets claiming underdog status, Getzlaf came right back with this: “There’s value in whatever you want to put on it. They’re trying to label themselves as that, it’s their mindset and to get people on their side. I don’t play media games. We’re here to play hockey. We know they’re a great team and we’re going to try to do our best to get off on the right foot tomorrow.”

‘What pressure? There’s pressure on every team to win. And everybody puts the pressure on themselves. We want to win as badly as Winnipeg wants to win and as badly as any of the other 14 teams want to win’

— Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau

Boudreau found it all amusing.

“Of course… it’s gamesmanship,” he said. “But everybody says those things. It’s gamesmanship.

“He knows he’s very, very confident in his hockey club right now. It’s gamesmanship.”

What’s not gamesmanship is one weapon the Ducks’ possess — their late-game resolve that saw them set an NHL record this season with 18 instances of winning games they trailed at some point in the third period.

“A lot of that comes with the experience and the depth in our room,” Getzlaf said. “Guys stay calm, play the game the right way and eventually we got rewarded. There were times this year we struggled with that.”

Getzlaf was a perfect captain on Wednesday, not too far ahead of himself and deferential to his opponents.

“There are a lot of things we have to be aware of,” he said. “They’re a great hockey team, a big, strong, physical team much like ourselves. We look forward to going out there and getting things started.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca