Frequent trips to the penalty box are nothing new for the Anaheim Ducks, but staying out of the sin bin would go a long way in helping them tie up the Western Conference Final against the Nashville Predators.

The Ducks take a ridiculous amount of penalties, and while they've managed to get this far in spite of that, it's not a recipe for sustained success.

Anaheim is the most penalized team in the playoffs, playing shorthanded a league-high 54 times and allowing an NHL-worst 14 power-play goals, or double the total given up by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

That means the Ducks have compiled a kill rate of 74.1 percent in the postseason, worst among the four remaining teams.

It's simply the way Anaheim plays. The Ducks were also the most penalized NHL team in the regular season, playing shorthanded a league-high 281 times, but the difference then was that their penalty-killing units boasted the fourth-best kill rate (84.7 percent) over the 82-game slate.

This style of play didn't prevent them from winning yet another Pacific Division title, didn't deter them from cruising to a first-round sweep of the Calgary Flames, and didn't stop them from slipping past the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

But sooner or later, giving opponents copious amounts of power-play time will take its toll.

It didn't cost them in Games 1 and 2 of this series against the Predators, as Nashville failed to convert on all eight opportunities, but it it did in Game 3.

Roman Josi's eventual winner with under three minutes left came with Ducks forward Chris Wagner in the box for high-sticking Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis.

Sure, the Ducks notched a power-play goal of their own earlier in that game on Corey Perry's odd-angle shot, but Anaheim has given Nashville 12 chances on the man advantage in the series, while the Predators have only been shorthanded eight times in the first three contests.

The slew of infractions has also clearly worn down the Ducks at even strength. Anaheim is being heavily outplayed at 5-on-5 in terms of scoring chances, puck possession, and shots on goal.

Related: Carlyle has bigger problems than the shot counter

The Ducks' physical game is part of their identity, and they won plenty of games in spite of it, but a concerted effort to tone it down would give them a better chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

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