For former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, things just were not working at the end of his tenure in Washington. The weight of previous Stanley Cup playoff disappointments and the high expectations for this season finally forced management’s hand when Boudreau was fired on Nov. 28.
How long was he out of work? About two days when the Anaheim Ducks hired him Dec. 1. At the time the veteran Ducks — expected to be a playoff team themselves — were 7-13-4 with 18 standings points and 11 points out of the No. 8 playoff spot in the Western Conference. By Jan. 4 they had gone just 3-9-2 under Boudreau and by then were 20 points behind No. 8 Nashville.
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Season over, right? Wrong. No team in the league is hotter than Anaheim since. The Ducks are 21-24-8 now after a 3-2 shootout win over Carolina on Wednesday and in 13th place. But they entered play Thursday just eight points behind No. 8 Minnesota with two games in hand on No. 11 Colorado and a game in hand on No. 10 Calgary and No. 9 Phoenix. Dallas, sitting at No. 12, is also ahead of Anaheim and the only team of the five that has played fewer games.
It’s a long shot. Four of the five teams ahead of them played Thursday, including Calgary at Phoenix. But given where Anaheim was just 37 days ago, it’s a completely rejuvenated team. And Boudreau, better than any NHL coach, knows a team is never out of the chase. His first season with the Caps in 2007-08 he lifted them from the worst team in the Eastern Conference on Thanksgiving Day to a Southeast Division title by the end of the regular season.
There are parallels with last year’s New Jersey Devils. Left for dead on Jan. 8, 2011, at 10-29-2, that club somehow went on an unprecedented 23-3-2 spree. By March 15 they had closed to within six points of the No. 8 seed. But the Devils limped to a 5-7-1 finished and the dream died. Anaheim has its own danger zone upcoming — an eight-game road trip starting Friday at Detroit. Survive that and the Ducks’ dream becomes all too real.
