Anaheim Ducks first-round notes: Improving on the power play

With four days until Anaheim and Winnipeg open up their first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series, the postseason buzz hasn't quite hit a fever pitch just yet. Instead, the focus is still on the one aspect of the Ducks' game that has been the most unproductive: The power play.

The Ducks haven't scored a power play goal since March 24 at Columbus. And even in that game, they had five opportunities and only scored one. Anaheim has scored only four power-play goals in the final 26 games of the season.

Part of that cold streak can be traced back to Sami Vatanen's injury, as the power-play quarterback sat out 15 games between February and March, but the power play has long been a struggle for the Ducks, tracing back to last season.

"I thought we were good today," said center Ryan Kesler. "I really don't care about the regular season. You can have a crap power play in the regular season and an unbelievable one (in the postseason). I think we're 31 percent against these guys throughout the regular season. But I'm not big on stats because the playoffs is a whole different animal."

Kesler has a point: Last year, the Los Angeles Kings converted on 15.1 percent of power plays (27th in the league) in the regular season and won the Stanley Cup with a far better rate of 23.5 percent in the postseason. 

The Ducks finished the regular season with a 15.7 percent rate, 28th in the league and only marginally better rate than that of the 2014 Kings, proving that statistics don't always tell the entire story.

A good power play can be beneficial, but not integral.

"Either way, you've got to win the special teams battles, whether that's killing (penalties) off or scoring on the power play," said captain Ryan Getzlaf. "Both are creating momentum in some way." 

Injury updates

Goaltender John Gibson and center Nate Thompson did not participate in Monday morning's practice at the Honda Center. Gibson was injured in an off-day practice last week while Thompson was injured during the third period of the Ducks' regular season finale at Arizona, Saturday night. 

Jason LaBarbera was recalled from the AHL and Gibson does not currently have a locker stall at the Honda Center.

"All I'm going to say about (Gibson) or Nate is that they're day-to-day, upper-body," said Ducks' coach Bruce Boudreau. "Day-to-day at this stage."