Carlyle always seeking more

Leave it to gruff Ducks Coach Randy Carlyle to not be satisfied with a 102-point season, which earned the team a No. 4 seeding and Game 1 at home Thursday for the first round of the Western Conference playoffs against Dallas.

“If we had a perfect season, how many would we have had, 184 or something?� mused Carlyle after a 3-2 shootout win over Phoenix in the season finale. “As coaches, you’re always asking for perfection.�

Often a curmudgeon, Carlyle said that with a chuckle. Not that it meant he was joking.

“Are you satisfied?� he said, repeating a reporter’s question. “We’ll look back upon it and I think people will say that 102 points is pretty good in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.

“Were there points that we left up on the board? For sure there were. I’m sure every team feels the same way.�

Literally and figuratively, the Ducks have gone down a road that few defending Stanley Cup champions have traveled.

There was the season-opening trip to London. The in-season returns of Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne. The injuries to many of their key personnel. The recent suspension of captain Chris Pronger.

“Those are the things that have been part of our life right from the beginning of the season,� Carlyle said. “We haven’t made excuses. We haven’t complained. It’s just the reality of our situation and we’ve met them all head on.�

Pronger said the team began to get itself together when Niedermayer came back in mid-December. The Ducks went 32-12-4 after that.

“We started getting the pieces back together,� Pronger said. “We started getting that cohesiveness back. We started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Knowing that we needed to play some of our best hockey and obviously teams were gunning for us, we needed to play well in order to keep moving up in the standings and solidify a playoff spot.�

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One of the interesting lineup decisions that Carlyle will face is whether to dress struggling veteran Doug Weight, who sat for the second time in three games Sunday.

Rookie Ryan Carter took Weight’s place and won a faceoff that led to the Ducks’ first goal in their win over Phoenix. It was Carter’s first game back after missing six weeks because of a broken wrist.

Carlyle said the lineup for Game 1 could look much like what it appeared Sunday, which saw Carter and rookie Bobby Ryan playing.

“As I’ve stated before, things haven’t went the way we’d envisioned with Dougie,� Carlyle said. “We think there’s some things he can do to help us out and there’s possibly some things we can do to help him.�

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Success has its cost and for Ducks fans, it’ll be in the form of higher ticket prices.

The club announced an average 6.6% increase for season tickets and a 7.2% increase for individual game tickets.

Season tickets for 2008-09 will begin at $10.50 per game, up from $10 this season. Individual game tickets will begin at $18.50 each, up from $17.

The highest-priced tickets will increase from $82 to $88 for season seats and from $97 to $103 for individual games. All tickets will include a Honda Center facility fee that runs from $1.50 to $3 for particular sections.

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