Ducks back in playoffs
The Anaheim Ducks clinched a Stanley Cup Playoff berth for the first time in eight years after a Nashville Predators loss, putting Anaheim third in the Pacific Division. (NHL.com reported the clinch and the Ducks’ current divisional standing.) (NHL playoff coverage notes both the Ducks and Kings are still fighting to improve seeding in the final regular‑season days.) (nhl.com)(nhl.com)
Anaheim is back in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2018 after Nashville’s 3-2 loss to San Jose on Monday, April 13, locked up the Ducks’ spot. (nhl.com) The Ducks clinched while idle and improved to 42-32-6 at the time they got in, with NHL.com listing them in third place in the Pacific Division. (nhl.com) The race is not finished. NHL.com reported on April 14 that Anaheim and the Los Angeles Kings were still fighting to move up the Pacific standings in the final three days of the regular season. (nhl.com) In the National Hockey League’s playoff format, the top three teams in each division qualify automatically, and two more teams in each conference get in as wild cards. Anaheim got there by holding a top-three divisional spot instead of chasing a wild-card berth. (nhl.com) The clinch ends the longest postseason drought the Ducks have had since entering the league in 1993. The club’s own site called it Anaheim’s 15th playoff appearance in franchise history. (nhl.com) Anaheim nearly secured the berth a day earlier on April 12, but lost 4-3 in overtime to Vancouver. That recap said the Ducks had dropped seven of eight games and still sat three points ahead of Los Angeles in the Pacific race. (nhl.com) The turnaround has come after years near the bottom of the standings. NHL.com’s playoff coverage on April 11 listed Anaheim among the teams on the verge of qualifying, a shift from recent seasons when the Ducks were out of the race well before mid-April. (nhl.com) Anaheim’s next steps are about matchup and home ice, not survival. With the field set and only seeding unsettled, the Ducks’ return is secure even as the Pacific order keeps moving in the season’s final days. (nhl.com)
