Do you remember the final image of Anaheim Ducks legend Teemu Selanne skating off the ice? If you thought of that final lap in front of a raucous home crowd, while skating hand-in-hand with fellow Ducks legend, J.S. Giguere, you would only be half wrong. While many an Anaheim fan shed some tears that night, myself included as I was also at Honda Center for that game, that was not Selanne's final game in a Ducks sweater. Just a little over a month later, the Ducks were ousted in the second round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Los Angeles Kings, effectively ending Selanne's historic run in Anaheim. Despite their close proximity to each other, that was the only time the Ducks and the Kings faced one another in the postseason. The stars finally aligned for that one playoff clash, but can we get another Freeway Faceoff with the elevated stakes that only the postseason can bring?
The pendulum always swung one way or another
From the Ducks first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2003 to their eventual Stanley Cup win in 2007, the Kings were non-factors in the playoff bracket. When the Kings won their first Stanley Cup in 2012, the Ducks did not qualify for the playoffs. During the last hurrah in the 2017 playoffs for the Ryan Getzlaf and the Corey Perry era, the Kings did not have a ticket to the dance. Despite finally qualifying for the playoffs last season and making some noise in the process, the Ducks have been absent from postseason competition since a disastrous first-round exodus in 2018 at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. While the Kings have lost in the first round for their last five consecutive postseason appearances, the Ducks have been in a perpetual rebuilding state for the majority of that time and have been largely uncompetitive.
The lone exception
The 2014 playoffs were the exception to the rule, and the second-round series was everything that rival So-Cal fans could hope for. The Kings won the first two games at Honda Center. The Ducks won the next two games at Staples Center. The Ducks then won Game Five at home, with the game winner coming off the stick of Jakob Silfverberg. The Kings responded with a close 2-1 Game Six victory at Staples Center. And then in a hallmark and decisive Game Seven at Honda Center, the Ducks utterly face-planted in a 6-2 defeat to their rival, ending Selanne's professional NHL career and exasperating the inefficiencies of then Ducks head coach Bruce Boudreau and his inability to get a team over the hump.
Meet in the middle
The Ducks are now the team that is on the rise, despite a laborious and contentious offseason with its star players. The Kings may have supplemented their departing veterans with more veterans, combined with an addition that twists the knife on Ducks fans specifically, but in a perceived weak Pacific Division, there is a path to the postseason for a Kings team that is on the down swing. A first-round matchup would be unlikely, as the Ducks and the Kings would have to finish 2nd and 3rd in the Pacific, and in a division with the 2026 Stanley Cup runners-up in the Vegas Golden Knights and perennial contenders in the Edmonton Oilers, that kind of outcome would be doubtful. The more realistic path would be for the Ducks and the Kings to clash in the second round, much like in 2014.
Need for a local rival
Regular season matchups between the Ducks and Kings always carry some extra weight and some extra hate. But outside of causing separation in the standings, the Freeway Faceoff has lacked that extra level of excitement. When Selanne and the Ducks skated off the ice defeated in the 2014 playoffs, it hurt. But that's what builds great rivalries. As fun as it has been throwing shade at the Philadelphia Flyers the past couple seasons, it's doubtful that the Flyers and the Ducks will ever meet in the postseason. San Jose is on an upswing trajectory and while those postseason matchups with the Ducks provided fireworks in the past, there's something inherent in Ducks fandom about wanting to beat the Kings, especially in the playoffs. Carlsson versus Byfield. LaCombe versus Doughty. So-Cal needs one more postseason clash in this era, before the pendulum swings the other way again.
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