But they’re not exactly catching a break.
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While the Predators have played three grueling games and taken two long flights, the Sharks have been resting and practicing for six days and are eager to get back on the ice when their second-round series opens against Nashville on Friday night. But after you’re down 2-0, Game 7 is probably the best-case scenario.
The Nashville Predators have advanced to the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs with a Game 7 road win against the Anaheim Ducks.
The Sharks and Predators have met twice in the playoffs before, in 2006 and 2007.
The Nashville Predators’ celebration of a landmark moment in franchise history consisted of a few minutes of excitement in the Honda Center dressing room with a 14-year-old Nelly song blaring in the background.
“We faced elimination in Game 6, won in overtime, [won in] double overtime in Game 7, and kind of rolled that into the second round and showed up with a lot of confidence”, said DeBoer, whose Devils ended up losing in the Stanley Cup Final to Los Angeles.
Those losses might scare the common Sharks fan, but true San Jose fans know that the regular season means little when it comes to predicting the outcome of a series. The San Jose Sharks won 2-1. “We talked about it between the second and third period that it’s great to get chances but we got to play in the inside or we’re not getting quality chances”.
Ducks GM Bob Murray is expected to be very active, as he tries to shuffle his roster, re-sign current players and explore trade options for others. Joe Pavelski scored five goals against the Kings and now has 43 counting his regular-season tallies.
“I feel like we’ve done the right things”, said Laviolette.
How the Predators got here: Nashville won the first two games against Anaheim.
Rinne stopped 36 shots for the Predators, who will face the San Jose Sharks on Friday in the first game of the conference semi-finals. He got a ton of chances, took a ton of shots, however, was foiled repeatedly by Preds Rock of Gibraltar Pekka Rinne. But the Sharks have had time to catch their breath after dismissing the Kings in five games. That mark bests San Jose’s 12th ranked 40.2, but admittedly isn’t the best source for evaluating offense.
Tommy Wingels said: “When you play every other day, you get into a bit of a routine of having a day off and bringing it the next night”.
Corey Perry was held to four assists and zero goals in the first round series against Nashville.
The Ducks appeared to gain some momentum from killing off a 5-on-3 Nashville power play with defenceman Sami Vatanen and Kevin Bieksa both serving minors.
Thomas Greiss finished with 33 saves for the Islanders. The Preds blocked shots for Rinne and took away passing seams by clogging lanes with bodies, skates, and sticks. “I thought we had the guys to push us through”. Forward Logan Couture netted a goal in the second frame to put the Sharks up by 2 and they never looked back.
Tavares and Lightning dynamo Nikita Kucherov traded the postseason goals lead through the first round, and they were at it again.
Rinne had a 2.45 goals against average against the Ducks. Gaustad diverted the puck in after deflecting Shea Weber’s slap shot and despite a challenge from Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau, the score stood.
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“It was a big goal for us”. I call these guys role players, but let’s be honest they are not just role players they are high-end players. We thought in the third period, we could still tie it up. They were outshot 28-10 over the last two periods.
