The Predators held Anaheim’s elite offense to 17 goals in seven games and neutralized the league’s top power play, surrendering four goals on 25 attempts.
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Keeping players fresh has become a science, with organizations investing time and money studying the best way to tackle travel situations like the one Nashville had against Anaheim, and will again against San Jose. The Predators, with a lot fewer rest days, will still be buzzing from their emphatic Game 7 victory over the Ducks.
The Ducks were left with the same odd story to tell for another long summer.
Rinne made 36 saves for the wild-card Predators, who rallied from a 3-2 series deficit and ousted the Pacific Division champion Ducks with a workmanlike road victory.
This was the Predators first Game 7 in their history and their first playoff series win since 2012.
The veteran center isn’t paid to score goals-he had two during the regular season, and just one to show for 60 career playoff games. They did some things we expected. My crystal ball must be working at least a little magic- so if you’re looking for in-depth evaluations of possession metrics and Corsi ratings to find out who will come out on top of the Nashville Predator’s second-round tilt against the San Jose Sharks- you’re in the wrong place. “If you don’t take this step, you can’t take any more steps”.
Headed into Game 1 against the Predators on Friday, though, their toughest obstacle may have nothing to do with the team they’re lining up against.
Wilson put Nashville ahead 6:19 into the game with his second goal of the playoffs. “I think our fans have been waiting for it, and we want to keep moving on”.
“We were playing catch-up the whole game, the whole series and all year”, Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf said.
The Ducks threw everything they had at the Nashville Predators over the final 40 minutes, only to end up haunted for another summer. “They figured out a way to score some goals and we’ve got to be harder around the net and stick some more in 5 on 5”.
“I think both have advantages”, Johansen said.
Seven games done and it’s a brand new series.
“Tonight was probably one of our best offensive games in the series, if not the best”, Cogliano said, “but they gutted it out”.
Just over seven minutes after Pavelski tied the game with an even strength goal from in front of the net, Calle Jarnkrok scored on a 2-on-1 with 11:08 left in the third period to give the Predators a 2-1 lead.
Get ready for the big Game 7 between Anaheim and Nashville that will determine the immediate fate of both teams. Boudreau is 181-81-32 in Anaheim, a fantastic number. They are also a little bit deeper than Nashville, which should come in handy during the inevitable overtime game or two.
Finally, we come to the big boy matchup of Thornton against Weber. “Power play, we’ve got to start putting one in”. “Especially since how hard we had to push from November on, just to get to where we were”.
The Ducks outscored Nashville, 18-14, for the series.
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Wilson scored after he swept the puck away from Simon Depres, who could not control it. But that was quickly squelched when Gaustad doubled the lead, deflecting a Shea Weber point shot past Ducks goalie Frederik Andersen. Jakob Silfverberg broke his stick on a three-on-two chance. Jones was very solid in his first series as the number one netminder as he outperformed Jonathan Quick by a wide margin.
