This Week In Ducks History: First Playoff Game EVER!

This Week in Ducks History:

Apr. 19, 1956
Head Coach Randy Carlyle born in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Apr. 14, 1968
LW Lonnie Loach born in New Likeard, Ontario, Canada

Apr. 15, 1974
RW Sergi Krivokrasov born in Angarsk, USSR (Russia)

Apr. 14, 1975
RW Frank Banham born in Calahoo, Alberta, Canada

Apr. 18, 1979
LW Petr Schastlivy born in Yaroslavl, USSR (Russia)

Apr. 17, 1983
RW Stanislav Chistov born in Chelyabinsk, USSR (Russia)

Apr. 14, 1985
D Brian Salcido born in Hermosa Beach, California, USA. First player born and trained in California to play for the Ducks.

Apr. 20, 1988
C Nick Bonino born in Hartford, Connecticut, USA

Apr. 14, 1996
The Mighty Ducks beat Winnipeg 5-2 to finish the 1996 regular season with a record of 35-39-8 (fourth of seven in the Pacific, ninth of 13 in the West).

Apr. 16, 1997
The Mighty Ducks win their first ever playoff game 4-2 over the Phoenix Coyotes in Anaheim. Teemu Selanne scored the first ever playoff goal in franchise history 8:57 into the first period, on the power play. He added another goal and an assist, Paul Kariya matched Teemu's two goal, one assist performance and Guy Hebert made 29 saves on 31 shots.

Apr. 15, 1999
Doug Bodger and Luc Robitaille set the Ducks' record for fastest two goals against, by scoring six seconds apart in a 4-3 overtime victory for the Kings.

Apr. 19, 1998
St. Louis beat the Ducks 5-3 in the last game of the 1998 season for Anaheim. The loss gave the Ducks a 26-43-13 record, good for sixth of seven in the Pacific and 12^th of 13 in the West.

Apr. 17, 1999
Tied San Jose 3-3 in the last regular season game of the 1999 season at the Shark Tank. The Ducks ended up third in the Pacific and sixth in the West with a record of 35-34-13 and faced the dreaded Detroit Red Wings in the playoffs.

Apr. 14, 2002
Ended the 2002 season with a 1-0 loss in Los Angeles. This gave the Ducks a record of 29-42-8-3 (W-L-T-O) landing them last (fifth) in the Pacific and 13^th (of 15) in the West.

Apr. 17, 2006
With a first round matchup set against Calgary, the Ducks beat the Flames 4-3 to close out the 2006 regular season. This game set the tone for the playoff series to come, as the Ducks set records for most power play opportunities in a game (13) and in a period (six in the third). The Ducks final record was 43-27-12, finishing third in the Pacific and sixth in the West.

Apr. 15, 2007
The Ducks took a 3-0 strangle hold on their first round series with Minnesota winning 2-1 in St. Paul. Andy McDonald and Rob Niedermayer scored for the Ducks with Chris Pronger the lone assist on both. (NHL Vault)

Apr. 17, 2007
the Wild beat the Ducks (4-1) for the first time ever in the playoffs. Eighth time's the charm. Things got ugly with 37 combined minutes of penalties and two game misconducts (Shawn Thornton and Brad May) in the third period. (NHL Vault)

Apr. 19, 2007
A fight broke out in warm ups (!!!) before the Ducks went on to beat Minnesota 4-1 in the game and the series. Francois Beauchemin played 28:32 with a broken jaw after having been hit in the face with a puck in Game 3, and missing Game 4. I also vividly remember him being face washed by Marian Gaborik in a scrum to the side of the net. That's what the playoffs are all about! Hopefully the Ducks can find some of whatever got into Beauch that night over the next week, or else we won't have much history being made this spring. (NHL Vault