Ryan Kesler has been ready for this moment. He’d been eagerly looking forward to the day he could do it.

The face of the longtime center is freshly shaven, though the early stages of his familiar beard has already started to reappear. But this is a playoff beard. It is one that the first-year Ducks pivot is hoping will become as bushy as possible.

“That’s the idea,” Kesler said, smiling. “That’s the plan.”

This is the moment that the Ducks have craved dating to March of 2014. The idea of having Kesler in their lineup for the Stanley Cup playoffs will now become reality when they host Winnipeg in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Western Conference first-round series on Thursday.

The Ducks missed out on one postseason with the coveted Kesler when they couldn’t get their trade for him completed with Vancouver until last summer. Now they’ve got the battle-tested center for his first playoff game with them after appearing in 57 with the Canucks.

The 30-year-old is refreshed and set to resume his role as the agitator, joking that plenty of Vitamin D gained from living in the California sunshine has done wonders for his recuperative powers. Really, it’s about playing 191/2 minutes a night rather than 22.

“I feel good,” Kesler said. “Obviously I play a little less here than I did in Van. I think that helps. One or two less minutes a night adds up over 82 games, right? I feel ready. I’m excited.

“It’s why we play hockey, right? It’s why we play this game, this time of year. To miss last year and to be able to be back, it’s exciting.”

Kesler isn’t the only veteran who believes he is prepared for the playoff grind. Ryan Getzlaf got back into the lineup Saturday night after going 10 days without any game action to save some of the hard mileage on his body for the postseason.

The Ducks are clearly a different team with their leader around. Getzlaf showed that with a goal and assist in their 2-1 win over Arizona, finishing off a nice pass from Tomas Fleischmann in the first period and winning a puck battle in the second that led to Jakob Silfverberg’s goal.

It isn’t clear if Getzlaf was rested to nurse an injury. He said “everybody’s playing through something.” But the Ducks captain is hoping two games off to rest will benefit him in the long run.

As long as there is a long run.

“Oh yeah, I’m excited,” Getzlaf said. “We’ve been working a long time for this. This month has been really slow for me. It’s been hard sitting in the stands and those kind of things. I’m excited to play come Thursday.”

Getzlaf has 25 goals and 74 points in 81 playoff games over seven previous postseasons. He had four goals and a team-leading 15 points in their 12 games a year ago. The Ducks simply aren’t as good without him.

“It’s very different,” Silfverberg said. “He’s our captain. He leads the team in ice minutes. He leads the team in points. It’s great to have him back. We’re going to need him to be good in the playoffs.”

The Ducks finished with 109 points but they’re getting a Jets team that is similar and yet different from the one they’ve defeated in all three regular-season meetings.

Forwards Andrew Ladd and Blake Wheeler and defensemen Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers define the big, skilled and physical game that mirrors what the Ducks offer. Winnipeg addressed its prior lack of depth with smart acquisitions of Myers and wingers Drew Stafford and Lee Stempniak for its playoff push.

“They’re a big-sized team, kind of like us,” Silfverberg said. “They have some guys that are pretty big but can skate. It’s typical. You got to make sure to get pucks in and pucks out. I mean it’s going to be a battle along the boards and in front of the nets.

“That’s one of our strengths. We’re good in one-on-one battles and we’re good in front of the net. So it’s definitely a tough team to play but I think if we play to our standards, we should come out on top.”

But this is no ordinary wild-card team. The Jets (43-26-13) finished on a 10-3-1 run to end up with 99 points in the Central Division, the NHL’s best. Hot goalie Ondrej Pavelec has spun three straight shutouts (the last was a 1-0 shootout loss to Colorado).

It has led to Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau entering into us-against-the-world mode.

“They’re playing as good a hockey as they’ve played all year,” Boudreau said. “It would not surprise me if everybody picks them and we’re the underdogs.”

The top seed in the Western Conference picked to lose to the second of two wild-card entrants. Really? Why?

“Based on the way they had to make the playoffs in the Central Division,” Boudreau explained. “They’ve given up one goal in their last four games. In St. Louis. At Minnesota. At Colorado. They’re feeling pretty good about themselves.”

Contact the writer: estephens@ocregister.com