On December 27 the Anaheim Ducks sat at the bottom of the Pacific Division, 30 points from 33 games with a sub-.500 mark of 12-15-6. Though they would knock off the Philadelphia Flyers that night 4-2, it came at the cost of defenseman Cam Fowler, who played just 3:36 and left the game with what would later be announced as a knee sprain.
Things looked bleak, with the win just Anaheim's second in six games and the team a lone point above Columbus for league-bottom.
Yet without their top minute defenseman, over the next 30 days the Ducks reeled off a 9-3-1 stretch, include a 4-0-1 road mark to pull within two points of the final Pacific Division playoff spot with two games in hand on slot-occupying Arizona.