ANAHEIM — As a disappointed crowd of Ducks fans gave their heroes one last salute before they left the ice Thursday night, Honda Center public address announcer Phil Hulett put it all into perspective.
“It only gets better from here,” he told them.
Maybe the Ducks should use that as their advertising slogan this summer. (Or maybe that’s already the plan, and the PA guy was giving all of us a preview.)
Yes, Ducks players and coaches had a longer playoff run in mind, rather than the one that ended with a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 6 of their best-of-seven second-round series. The elimination game was on a rink where the Ducks previously were 7-0 all-time in Game 6 opportunities, and not making it 8-0 stung.
The evening started badly enough with Vegas’ Mitch Marner scoring 1:02 into the game and the Knights taking a 3-0 lead in the first period, and got worse for the home side when Pavel Dorofeyev added his eighth and ninth goals of the playoffs in the third period.
But there most definitely is hope in Orange County, anticipation for a future led by young stars like Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke.
The franchise’s first playoff experience since 2018 reminded Ducks fans why this sport at its best can be so intoxicating. And the template over which Coach Joel Quenneville presided with the Chicago Blackhawks – which ultimately resulted in three Stanley Cup titles for that franchise – seems firmly in place in Orange County.
“I think you learn (as a group) that every game as a team, everybody pulls together in the playoffs,” Quenneville said. “It gets exponentially higher and more important, and (you) welcome that challenge of being a part of a group that knows that chips are on the line, and we’ve got to step forward and compete for one another and for the team and the fans and the organization.
“I think we’ve had a lot of character pieces here, and that’s where the growth starts. But this was an experience where you can say this should help us moving forward.”
Winning a series for the franchise’s first playoff victory in nine seasons, in the six-game triumph over Edmonton, was a good start. It showed the youngsters what was possible. The experience of a grueling second-round series against Vegas will help, too.
“Even some of the games we lost, we played really well in them,” right wing Troy Terry said, while acknowledging that Game 6 certainly wasn’t one of them. But, he added, “I think we earned the right to be in a Game 6 and try and force a Game 7. I know everyone was excited for it. And yeah, just it’s a little hard to take right now.”
It is a starting point, Terry conceded, adding: “But at the same time, you know, you can’t take it for granted. I mean, I’m well aware of how hard it is to make the playoffs. And I do hope that this springboards us into the way we look at other teams, and the way we look at (ourselves) and just the confidence that we’re bringing into next year.
“I think it does feel like it could be the start of something, but yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of work to be had. It’s a hard thing. I mean everyone else is going to get better this summer and we just got to keep pushing.”
When that message reverberates around the room, it’s a positive. As a group, and as individuals, there should have been enough lessons coming out of this postseason to set up what should be a serious summer of preparation and improvement.
Some of that should bleed into the regular season next year, too. Terry, 28 and a veteran of eight seasons, acknowledged that while the Ducks demonstrated they’re a good team, their inconsistency – a seven-game winning streak early in the season and 12 wins in 14 games from mid-January to March 1, mixed with a stretch of 13 losses (two in overtime) in 15 games at midseason and eight (two OT) in nine games at the end of the season – made things harder than necessary in the quest for that elusive playoff berth.
“And then you get into (the) playoffs and you get kind of a taste of it and just what it takes at that level,” he said. “And I think … we learned, myself included, just how to play in those games.
“I say this, we’re coming off a game that was a bit of a dud and it was hard to take, but I think our overall consistency in the playoffs was good. I thought we brought it for the most part and most of every game. … Like I said, this is what we kind of struggled with in the regular season, just the consistency and being sharp every night. And you learn … you can’t not be ‘on’ going into one of these games. So I think it raised everyone’s attention to details and all of that stuff.”
There’s also this example of growth: When the Ducks first began this postseason journey, Terry acknowledged, they were “maybe just trying to prove to ourselves that we can do it. And then that quickly turned into bigger aspirations. And that’s why it’s a little harder to swallow right now.
“We have guys that have won Cups and a lot of experienced guys, but for myself and then some of the young guys, I think it gave us just a taste of (a), how hard it is to get back to the playoffs, and (b), just how rewarding it is to go through this journey. … I hope that everyone goes home hungry and wants to be back here and keep building on this.”
If they do? That work is how Stanley Cups are ultimately won.
jalexander@scng.com