Ducks at Avalanche
The Anaheim Ducks missed a golden opportunity to take control of the Pacific Division and face an uphill climb as they visit the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Anaheim finishes the regular season Sunday in Washington in a make-up of a postponed game in January and must earn three more points than Los Angeles, which can wrap up the Pacific title with a victory over Winnipeg on Saturday in its final regular-season contest.
"We’re just trying to get into the playoffs,'' captain Ryan Getzlaf told reporters after the Ducks lost to the Kings 2-1 on Thursday. "That’s what we’ve been trying to do the whole time. We accomplished that. Hopefully we can push through the end and be ready for whoever we’re facing." An Anaheim loss Saturday could allow it to send veterans such as Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler home rather than flying them across the country for a meaningless game. The Ducks host San Jose in the first round of the playoffs if they finish second or Nashville if they win the division. Colorado was in position to claim a wild card spot in the Western Conference before losing five straight and seven of its last eight, and will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season and fifth time in the last six years.
TV: 5:30 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket and FSN San Diego (Anaheim), Altitude (Colorado), Sportsnet 1
ABOUT THE DUCKS (44-25-11): Forward Rickard Rakell was enjoying a breakout season with 20 goals and 43 points before an appendectomy will ultimately shut him down for the final seven games of the regular season. The 22-year-old Swede hopes to resume skating this weekend and should be ready for the playoffs. John Gibson is expected to make his seventh straight start Saturday and appears to be Anaheim's playoff goaltender as Frederik Andersen continues to recover from a concussion suffered March 30 versus Calgary.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (39-38-4): Defenseman Erik Johnson summed up Colorado's plight best, telling reporters: "None of us want to be in this situation, but at the end of the day we have no one to blame but ourselves. ... As crappy as it feels to be in this predicament, we’re in it because we put ourselves here, and at the end of the day we’re going to work hard until the end.” Matt Duchene has a goal (30th of the season) and two assists in four games since missing six with a knee injury. It appears Nathan MacKinnon (knee) will finish the season on the injury list for the second straight year as he's missed the last nine games.
OVERTIME
1. Anaheim (23 percent) clings to the lead over San Jose (22.7), Chicago (22.7) and Washington (22.4) for the league's best power play and also boasts the top penalty-killing unit as it bids to become the first team since the 1984-85 New York Islanders to finish with the best special-teams units.
2. The Avalanche have allowed seven power-play goals in 16 chances over their last five games.
3. Colorado won the first two meetings in the three-game season series, including 3-0 on March 9 in Denver behind 37 saves by Semyon Varlamov.