Sami Vatanen scored on a breakaway, Cam Fowler had a power-play goal and Ryan Kesler added an empty-netter.
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The Ducks and Predators each seek a 3-2 edge in Game 5 of their series. Game 6 of this Western Conference first-round series goes Monday night in Nashville.
In the second period, Ducks winger David Perron secured a pass, settled the puck and then took aim, hoping to get it past defenseman Roman Josi and into Nashville’s net.
What’s better yet for the Ducks is that they aren’t winning games with their usual stars of Kesler, Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry, who is still scoreless in their series, but rather from the likes of Perron, Garbutt and Andrew Cogliano, who is tied for a team-high two goals and has a team-high four points in this series.
“Those first two games we lost at home were rock bottom for us”, said Ryan Garbutt, who scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.
“We want him to shoot the puck”. When the series shifted to the Bridgestone Arena, the Ducks toppled the Predators, 3-0, in Game 3 and followed it up with a 4-1 triumph in Game 4 on Thursday.
It was a big goal, as it gave the Ducks a lead they would later build on.
“I thought it would be over the net, then I kind of see Rinne start scrambling a little bit and thought that maybe there’s was a chance that it’s going to find its way in and it did. They weren’t the greatest goals, but it was a playoff goal, I guess”. They trailed 3-2 in the third on Miikka Salomaki’s wrist shot before the Ducks put the game out of reach with a pair of goals.
Ryan Johansen scored for Nashville 22 seconds before the Ducks tied it in the second. “You can’t think that because you’ve done it in the past you’re necessarily going to do it”, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
NOTES: The Ducks went 3 for 3 on penalty killing, improving their PK to 95.5, second-best among playoff teams….
It was Gibson who got a bulk of the minutes after Andersen suffered a concussion in late March, and although Andersen returned with a 2-0 shutout in the season finale at Washington, Gibson got the nod for the opening two games of the playoffs.
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One of the problems for the Ducks in this series has been getting the opportunity to play with the man-advantage in the first place. Nashville is 0-8 when losing three of the first five games in a playoff series…. Anaheim has gone through stretches of futility this season but have been among the league’s best when they’re clicking and right now they certainly are doing so as they have dominated the last two in Nashville.
