Los Angeles Kings run doesn't intimidate Ducks

ANAHEIM, Calif. – During the month of February, which is commonly referred to as hockey groundhog day in the NHL, games have blended together for the Anaheim Ducks. It’s all about perfecting what they do and not nearly as much about what is going on with other teams.

Or at least that’s what most are programmed to say. But it’s impossible for the Pacific Division leading Ducks to ignore what’s going on a few miles up the freeway with their inter-urban sprawl rival, the Los Angeles Kings.

Winners of seven straight and currently in a playoff spot, after beating San Jose in Saturday’s Stadium Series game, the defending Stanley Cup champs are starting to garner a little more attention. Check that – a lot more attention. And the Ducks simply can’t avoid what’s occurring slightly north of Anaheim – since they share a market and a division with LA.

“I think as hockey players and as fans we watch and we see some of the games,” defenseman Cam Fowler said. “They’ve been going on a good stretch. I know I for one have come to kind of expect that out of them. People always count them out, but they find a way.”

And indeed they do … always.

This has been playing out eerily similar to the Ducks season a year ago, when they finished with the Western Conference’s top record, only to be bounced out in the second round of the playoffs by the royal ones.

For common Los Angeles playoff rivals like Anaheim, San Jose or Chicago (well maybe less San Jose, but that's a whole other bunch of problems) watching the Kings’ ups and downs this year can be stressful – simply because they’re the one team you probably don’t want to face come playoff time, for obvious reasons.

But the Ducks especially seem to have prepared for the Kings and muscled up appropriately. Anaheim traded for Ryan Kesler in the offseason to give some punch down the middle. This should combat the Kings’ monstrous middlemen. Also, Anaheim appears to be in the market for a defensemen – another type of move that could make the Ducks more playoff tough.

“Our team has been building,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “We’ve been building over the last couple of years and played in some big games here and there, we got a couple of acquisitions who have been through different situations like that, so that’s got to help us.”

Also, some of the stress that comes with a Kings revival involves fear of what Los Angeles was, and not what it is. The two times LA has won the Stanley Cup, the Kings have meandered through a so-so regular season, and then suddenly turned it up in the playoffs.

It’s easy to forget that they were almost beat in the first round by the Sharks a year ago. And if that was the case, the Kings’ rise would be a moot point to contending teams like the Ducks. Even Anaheim took LA to seven games in the second round.

But until they’re done, you can’t count the Kings out. And for the Ducks, it’s just punch and counterpunch with Los Angeles as the postseason nears, and maybe even into the playoffs ... which is fun, because this is what rivalries are all about.

- - - - - - -

Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

MORE FROM YAHOO HOCKEY