It’s fairly obvious what has fueled the Ducks offensively during their remarkable sprint through the final stretch of the regular season.

The top line of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and star rookie Bobby Ryan combined for 17 goals over the last nine games, helping propel the Ducks to a 6-2-1 record in that span.

Two of those games were against San Jose, which took the somewhat unorthodox step of sending out their top line centered by Joe Thornton (below, left, in a tangle with Perry) against the Ducks’ top line in an April 4 game at HP Pavilion.

Ryan, Perry and Getzlaf combined for three goals and five assists in a 5-2 victory, but Sharks coach Todd McLellan used the strategy again when the teams played the next night at Honda Center, a 3-2 Sharks victory.

So do the Ducks expect to see the Thornton line against Getzlaf’s line again?

“It’s hard to say,” Getzlaf said. “Both coaches have their own strategy on what they want to do. They tend to play Thornton against us quite a bit. I guess we’ll just see what they have and we’ll go from there. You know (Coach) Randy (Carlyle) as well I do. He likes his line matchups, too. We could spend the first little while kind of feeling each other out and see who we’re going to play against.”

Carlyle won’t have much of a choice the first two games because the home team has the advantage of sending out its line last to take a faceoff.

Thornton is expected to be grouped with Patrick Marleau and Devin Setoguchi. San Jose could also put out its third line of former Duck Travis Moen, Jonathan Cheechoo and Marcel Goc.

The Thornton matchup presents a challenge for the Getzlaf line. The 6-foot-4, 223-pound Thornton is a former Hart Trophy winner who carries the weight of disappointing postseasons on his shoulders.

His the type of big, mobile center that opens up the ice for his wingers, which have also included Cheechoo and veteran Jeremy Roenick as well as Marleau (who missed the past two meetings with an injury) and Setoguchi.

“It’s tough,” Ryan said. “He’s obviously a guy that creates a lot of space and whoever he’s got on his wings - he’s got Cheechoo, obviously a lot of the time - and he can certainly find the back of the net. And Jeremy Roenick is a guy that’s been around for a long time and knows the game very well. We’ve got to make sure (we don’t) give Joe time and space, because the other guys feed off him quite a bit.”

The top line has generally fared well offensively against San Jose this season.

Getzlaf has six assists and is a plus-2 in six games against the Sharks, while Perry has two goals and one assist. Ryan has two assists in four games against San Jose.

Thornton has a goal and two assists in six games against the Ducks.

McLellan has been evasive about who he will match against the Getzlaf line.

“We’ll see,” he told the San Jose Mercury News.

McLellan has even kept observers guessing as to who will be on his third and fourth lines.

But Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan won’t be surprised if they get long looks at Thornton’s line, and they embrace the task.

“It’s a great challenge for us as a line, Perry said. “They’ve been strong all year … We’re trying to outdo them, and it’s just a battle within the game, and you’ve got to win those battles.”

Said Getzlaf, “They’re a great line, they’re great players and we want to challenge ourselves and challenge each other. That’s the mentality that we have to into it with - that we’re a good line, too.”

[Source: Ducks.FreedomBlogging.com]

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