The NHL's stingiest defensive team also had the Austin Pettis Jerseybest power play and the best penalty kill this season.

The Anaheim Ducks turned several flaws into strengths over the past 3 1/2 months, and that's one big reason they're heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs with confidence.

The Ducks went back to http://www.r... Wednesday in preparation for Friday's first-round series opener against Nashville. This practice seemed light years away at Christmas, when Anaheim was foundering at 29th in the overall NHL standings as the league's lowest-scoring team by a long shot.

The team leaders and coaches solidified their commitment to responsible hockey during the holiday break. A roster with several exciting offensive talents decided to put defense first, and the results took the Ducks all the way back to the Pacific Division title.

''Well, I don't think it was that hard of a sell, considering we hadn't scored any goals,'' [url=http://www.ramsshopsnfl.com/benny-cunningham-jersey_c-408.html]http://www.r... captain Ryan Getzlaf, whose only goal before Christmas went into an empty net.

''We needed to figure out a way to win hockey games,'' he added. ''By (committing to defense), it enabled us to actually score more goals and be in more hockey games. So it wasn't that hard (to commit). It was a matter of just getting that system down, where everybody knew what everybody else was doing all the time, and that changes everything.''

The Ducks' improvements on special teams are stark and impressive. They even became the first team since the 1984-85 New York [url=http://www.nfltexansofficialonlines.com/andre-brown-jersey_c-495.html]Andre Brown Black JerseyIslanders to top the league on the power play and the penalty kill simultaneously.

It's an extraordinary turnaround from last season, when assistant coach Brad Lauer was fired in response to the power play's 28th-place finish in the league standings.

Anaheim converted 15.7 [url=http://www.nfltexansofficialonlines.com/brandon-brooks-jersey_c-505.html]ht... of its man-advantages last season before shooting up to 23.1 percent this year. New assistant Paul MacLean, the former Jack Adams Award winner in Ottawa, gets much of the credit from Boudreau and the players for the power play's dramatic turnaround, although MacLean directs it right back at the Ducks.

''We did a lot of work on it in practice, and we also stayed calm,'' Getzlaf said. ''Mac has definitely shown that he doesn't panic. He doesn't get on guys. He lets us work through things. The power play is a very funny thing. It's very fragile at times. You're one or two power plays away from being in a slump if you let it get to that, so we've got to just continue along with what we're doing well.''

General manager Bob Murray echoed Getzlaf's praise of MacLean's approach.