This is familiar territory for the Anaheim Ducks, as they are coming off another strong regular season, and are the Pacific Division champions for the third straight year. But for their first round opponent, this is nowhere near familiar. In fact, it would've been tough to find anyone before the season began that pegged the Winnipeg Jets to be where they are now. They overcame a slew of challenges"”injuries, a disgruntled star, and a suspension (to name a few)"”to make the playoffs since moving from Atlanta in 2011.

From a glance, the Ducks and the Jets appear to be teams that are worlds apart"”one's is happy just to be in the playoffs, while the other have much bigger ambitions. But as ESPN points out, looking into the numbers make this first round matchup closer than it appears to be.

The Jets finished just 10 points back of the Ducks in the standings. When it comes to controlling even-strength attempts, the Jets are even better, placing 9th in the league compared to 16th for the Ducks. When it came to goals per game, the Ducks were expectedly better (11th), but not by much (16th for the Jets).

Another surprising thing (perhaps much more for Anaheim being a team with Stanley Cup ambitions) is that both teams have struggled cashing in on their power plays. The Ducks are 0-11 in their last seven games, as noted by ESPN, while the Jets were 1-22 in their last six games.

But if there's one thing that should prove too much for the Jets to handle is Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf. He's already been a point-a-game player for much of his career, but with Kesler taking some of the burden off of him, he looks to be even more dangerous.

The numbers suggest this could be interesting, but what's certain is that with playoff hockey returning to Winnipeg for the first time since 1996, the excitement should be feverish.

The series opens in Anaheim on Thursday at 10:30 p.m, check out the live stream link here.