Perhaps team owner Henry Samueli had visions of this. A playoff spot, at least, was his stated mission when the team introduced Joel Quenneville as its new coach in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is the pressure we\u2019re putting on both (GM) Pat (Verbeek) and Joel,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know that the fans and the ownership expect to make the playoffs this (next) season. There\u2019s a lot of pressure to put on a coach and a GM. But you got to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even the most optimistic of Ducks loyalists \u2014 inside and outside the organization \u2014 couldn\u2019t have foreseen a division title being in play, not after seven consecutive seasons without making the playoffs. Just three years ago, the Ducks were in the NHL basement. The franchise is starting to reap the benefits of its rebuilding plan under Verbeek.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here through a lot of these seasons,\u201d said Troy Terry, the longest-tenured player on the roster (2018). \u201cIt\u2019s definitely an exciting time to be a Duck.\u201d<\/p>\n
To paraphrase the great David Byrne, you may ask yourself, \u201cWell, how did they get here?\u201d Here are five major reasons.<\/p>\n
All the comebacks<\/p>\n
When the Ducks and Montreal Canadiens met in Anaheim on March 6, the teams went back and forth, trading comebacks in the Ducks\u2019 thrilling 6-5 shootout win. That felt right, since those teams are tied at the top of the league when it comes to comeback victories, with 21 each.<\/p>\n
The Ducks have had nine multi-goal comebacks this season to tie a club record set in 2013-14 \u2014 a year when they had franchise records of 54 victories and 116 points. Five of their game-winning goals have come in the final five minutes of regulation. They\u2019ve also scored seven game-tying goals that late in games.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve won a game that they tied with 0.1 seconds on the clock in regulation and, in three other games, they erased a deficit three different times. In one of those,\u00a0they scored five times against Olympic gold medal-winning goalie Connor Hellebuyck and the Winnipeg Jets after facing a 2-0 deficit late into the second period.<\/p>\n
As thrilling as those victories have been, the Ducks too often spot the opposition leads. They\u2019ve allowed the first goal in 40 of their 67 games. Often, they\u2019ve allowed the first two. The ability to come back is a great trait, but it becomes problematic when it turns into reliance. That became apparent recently, with a home loss to St. Louis before defeats to Toronto and Ottawa on their just-completed road trip.<\/p>\n
![\"Cutter](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2266220398-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Cutter Gauthier leads the Ducks with 34 goals and 59 points. (Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Playing to their strengths<\/p>\n
The Ducks have amassed high-upside young players and have steadily built a roster geared toward speed and skill. And in Quenneville\u2019s first season, the Ducks have become one of the strongest teams in the league off the rush.<\/p>\n
Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier have thrived in that atmosphere, with Carlsson becoming a point-per-game player in his third season and Gauthier leveling up as a 34-goal scorer \u2014 and the team\u2019s leading point-producer in his second season. Anaheim\u2019s blue line has a blend of young puck-movers and veterans with big point shots, and the defensemen have totaled 37 goals (41 if you include Ian Moore, who plays both defense and forward).<\/p>\n
Jackson LaCombe best exemplifies that mobility on the back end, and his eight goals and 47 points show his growth as a No. 1 defenseman. Up front, Beckett Sennecke emerged as a Calder Trophy contender because Quenneville gave him opportunity with a top-six role right away and allowed him to play through his mistakes. At 20 years old, Sennecke is among the rookie scoring leaders with 20 goals and 51 points.<\/p>\n
Quenneville has leaned into playing high-event hockey and the Ducks have responded. They\u2019re gone from 21st in shots per game (27.7) last season to third (30.2) this season, and improved their offense from 30th (2.65 goals per game) to 13th (3.21). That helps balance out the fact that the Ducks are third-worst in the league in goals against per game.<\/p>\n
The overtime and shootout prowess<\/p>\n
The Ducks\u2019 37-27-3 record is boosted by remarkable results beyond regulation. The amount of extra hockey being played has been one of the defining elements of this NHL season, and Anaheim has gone 7-3 during five-on-five overtime with an 8-0 record in shootouts.<\/p>\n
Seven different players \u2014 Carlsson, Gauthier, Sennecke, Olen Zellweger, Jacob Trouba, Mikael Granlund, Chris Kreider \u2014 have overtime goals. Speed and skill play into that with the extra ice. And the combination of Mason McTavish\u2019s shootout go-to \u2014 a nearly unstoppable, snail\u2019s pace jam shot through a goalie\u2019s five-hole \u2014 and Dost\u00e1l\u2019s prowess in stopping shooters one-on-one gives Anaheim an advantage.<\/p>\n
That won\u2019t matter in the postseason, but has helped the Ducks gain extra points while others in the division have struggled when the games go past 60 minutes. All the victories in extra time have helped overcome the fact that Anaheim\u2019s 22 regulation wins are tied for 10th in the Western Conference and the fewest among the 16 teams currently in playoff position.<\/p>\n
Clutch goaltending<\/p>\n
Speaking of shootouts, Dost\u00e1l has been remarkably good in them. The 25-year-old has a .765 shootout save percentage. It\u2019s also one reason why he is headed for his first 30-win season in his first year as Anaheim\u2019s undisputed No. 1 goalie, following last summer\u2019s trade of longtime starter John Gibson to the Detroit Red Wings.<\/p>\n
Dost\u00e1l\u2019s overall numbers are impressive. His 27 victories rank fourth among NHL netminders and his goals-against average is his best in the three full seasons he\u2019s been up with Anaheim. His save percentage is down, but that\u2019s also the case league-wide.<\/p>\n
However, Dost\u00e1l\u2019s goals save above expected, per MoneyPuck, is -0.8, compared to 14.3 last season. There has been a significant drop in his even-strength save percentage since last season, from .913 to .899. Dig further, and Dost\u00e1l has improved in facing high-danger attempts, going upward to .785 from .771. His best saves have often come at timely junctures, and he seems to have a habit of shutting down teams after allowing early goals.<\/p>\n
After starting the season with the AHL\u2019s San Diego Gulls, backup Ville Husso has stepped in and done a credible job with a 7-7-1\/3.01\/.898, after Petr Mrazek\u2019s early struggles and his uneven play before hip surgery in February ended his year. Husso is 3-0 in shootouts and has had a couple sparkling performances, including a 44-save effort to beat Pittsburgh and a recent 42-save showing in a 5-1 win over the New York Islanders.<\/p>\n
The veterans still have game<\/p>\n
Perhaps it wasn\u2019t quite \u201cEscape from New York\u201d for Kreider and Trouba, but their exodus from the Rangers to the Ducks has breathed new life into their lengthy careers.<\/p>\n
Kreider, 34, is just one goal short of the 22 he scored last season. Even though he has dealt with multiple injuries, he could reach 50 points with a strong finish. He\u2019s also been a good example for Gauthier and Sennecke, showing both young forwards the value of strong play at the offensive net front. Trouba, 32, hasn\u2019t been perfect defensively but he\u2019s given the Ducks incredibly unexpected offensive value with one of his best point-producing seasons.<\/p>\n
Until a recurring upper-body injury took him out of the lineup on two occasions, Terry was racking up assists and producing at a point per game. Injuries have also thrown Mikael Granlund off track at times, but Poehling\u2019s strong two-way play in his place was rewarded when Poehling signed a four-year contract extension this month.<\/p>\n
The season-long struggles of forwards Frank Vatrano and the since-traded Ryan Strome can\u2019t be ignored, but Anaheim has gotten contributions from role players such as Ross Johnston, Jansen Harkins and waiver-wire pickup Jeffrey Viel. Viel, in particular, has been quite the surprise, as his tenacious play has kept him in the lineup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MONTREAL \u2014 To the likely surprise of anyone who projected their fate this season, the Anaheim Ducks are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,404],"class_list":["post-221890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-nhl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}