Ducks Begin Trip in Tightest Playoff Race in Seven Years

THE RACE: The Ducks (37-24-12) are in the middle of the tightest playoff race in the Western Conference in seven years, with seven teams within five points of the playoff line (86 points)…the last time as many as seven teams were within five points this late in the season was March 20, 2011.

RECENTLY: The Ducks have won three straight games (3-0-0), are 9-4-1 in their last 14 contests with a league-best 2.00 goals against per game in that stretch (since Feb. 15)...Anaheim is also 18-9-3 since its bye week, along with a 23-11-4 mark since December 21...at Honda Center, the Ducks have points in 12 of the last 13 games (22 pts., 10-1-2).
POINT PRODUCTION: Ryan Getzlaf has points in eight of the last nine games he has appeared in (3-13=16, +5) and in 10 of his last 12 (4-15=19, +7)...on March 9 at Dallas, Getzlaf reached the 50-point mark for the 11th time in his career to establish a franchise record for the most such seasons for an Anaheim player...Getzlaf earned his 50th point on his 10th goal of the season at 17:16 of the first period...a night earlier in Nashville, Getzlaf's two assists helped the Ducks captain record his 10th career 40-assist season, the most of any Duck player in franchise history...the Anaheim captain leads the NHL in assists-per-game (0.89).
NET PRESENCE: The Ducks rank second among NHL teams in team SV% (.922) this season...the team record for SV% in a single season is .921, set during the 1998-99 campaign...since the All-Star break, John Gibson leads NHL goaltenders in SV% (.940; min. 10 games) and GAA (1.85; min. 10 games) to go along with an 11-3-1 record...Gibson has won nine of his last 11 decisions (9-2-0) and is 18-6-2 in his last 26 decisions...he has two shutouts in his last 15 games dating to January 30 at Boston, including a 3-0 victory on March 14 vs. Vancouver...in addition, Gibson (.925) ranks tied for seventh and Ryan Miller (.926) ranks sixth overall among NHL goaltenders in SV% this season...the single-season individual club SV% record is .924, set by Jonas Hiller in 2010-11 and matched by Gibson last season.
NOTABLES:Jakob Silfverberg (1-2=3) and Rickard Rakell (1-2=3) are on two-game point streaks...Rakell, who posted his first career 30-assist season on March 16 vs. Detroit, is two goals shy from matching his single-season career high of 33 set in 2017-18...Rakell has nine goals and 14 points in his last 10 games...Brandon Montour co-leads NHL defensemen in GWG (5) this season, which also matches the single-season franchise record for GWG by a defenseman (Oleg Tverdovsky in 1999-00) and Niclas Havelid in 2002-03).
ON THE PK: Anaheim has not allowed a power-play goal in 12 of the last 14 games (36-for-39)...Anaheim's recent PK% is a league-leading 92.0% (46-of-50) since February 9 vs. Edmonton...the club also has 34-of-35 kills at home dating to January 23 vs. the New York Rangers (97.1%)...overall this season, the Ducks rank tied for fourth among NHL clubs with an 83.0 PK%.
SECOND HALF STORY:The Ducks have found success in the second half of the regular season (Games 42-82), virtually each season since 2005-06...Anaheim leads the NHL with 622 points (288-149-46) in the second half since the 2005-06 season, 14 points higher than second-best Pittsburgh with 608 (excludes 2012-13 shortened season)...the trend has also been similar measuring only the last three seasons, as Anaheim has a 72-29-13 mark (18-10-4 this season) for 157 points, which is tied for the league lead with Pittsburgh.
BYE WEEK BENEFITS:The Ducks have posted an 18-9-3 record for 39 points since the end of the team's bye week on January 13...Rickard Rakell (16-15=31) leads the team in scoring and goals, while Ryan Getzlaf paces the club in assists (7-23=30) during that stretch.
PLUS EFFORT: Josh Manson co-leads NHL defensemen in plus/minus (+27) this season...Manson is also +21 in his last 45 games and a +15 in his last 34 contests..Manson also leads the team defensemen in scoring (5-26=31) and assists.
1 to 1,000: The winningest coach in Ducks history, Randy Carlyle is one point shy of becoming the 32nd head coach in NHL history to earn 1,000 career points (999 pts., 447-307-105)...Carlyle appeared in his 830th NHL game as a head coach on January 13 at Los Angeles to surpass Bob Pulford for sole possession of 36th place in NHL history...Carlyle is also the only person in NHL history to be a head coach for 830-or-more games and play in at least 1,000...below is a look at the list of those that have coached/played in as many as 500/1,000.
| NHL Head Coach | Games as Head Coach | Games as Player | | --- | --- | --- | | Randy Carlyle | 859 | 1,055 | | Bob Pulford | 829 | 1,079 | | Red Kelly | 742 | 1,316 | | Craig MacTavish | 661 | 1,093 | | Larry Robinson | 501 | 1,384 |