Ducks’ Kesler: Fired Boudreau ‘took the fall for us’

8:29 PM ET

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The start, not the finish, cost Bruce Boudreau his job with the Anaheim Ducks.

Boudreau’s players understand that his firing could be the start of significant changes for a team that has won four consecutive Pacific Division titles, but squandered 3-2 series leads and lost Game 7 at home in four straight postseasons.

The Ducks cleared out their lockers at Honda Center on Saturday morning, one day after Boudreau was fired after nearly five seasons as head coach. General manager Bob Murray spent much of his press conference savaging the roster for a poor start that forced the Ducks into desperation from December on, and for dropping the first two games at home in their first-round series against the Nashville Predators.

No one would disagree with Murray’s conclusions.

“The press conference didn’t surprise me. There’s nothing that he said that surprised me at all,” captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “The one thing about me and Bob is we don’t have mixed opinions on a lot of things. I don’t disagree with him in the fact that we’re going to have to answer some questions. We’re going to have to figure out where things are going wrong.”

Bruce Boudreau’s players understand that his firing could be the start of significant changes for a Ducks team that has won four consecutive Pacific Division titles, but squandered 3-2 series leads and lost Game 7 at home in four straight postseasons. Jerry …

continue reading in source espn.go.com