“I think sometimes when you come out of a Game 7 you’re still in the moment and you try to carry it over”, said Neal.
Advertisement
It’s not happening. The Cup favourites are done. All but the final game of the series were decided by just one goal, and Game 5 was tied heading into the third period (6-3 final). Los Angeles scored just three times in five playoff games. To play devil’s advocate, they did just play a Game 7 two nights prior, so the emotion crash could be tough coming into a building like SAP Center.
“Experience in playoffs is definitely important”, said the Preds Mike Fisher.
But most importantly, the Predators established themselves as a legit contender. “A lot of it comes down to will and who wants it more”. While I do believe that these teams are evenly matched, and even though the Predators got the better of them during the regular season, the Sharks are playing at another level right now. The feat of eliminating the Kings in five games – and winning three times at Staples Center – is something that should not be glossed over before we get to the next round. “It was do or die at home”. Bruce Boudreau dropped to 1-7 in seventh games in his National Hockey League coaching career, including six consecutive losses in Anaheim and Washington.
They don’t think this was about a curse, or a choke, or because of what happened in each of the last three seasons.
While the Nashville Predators are trying to catch their breath after beating Anaheim in a seven game long-distance battle, the San Jose Sharks are trying to remember what it’s like to even play a game.
The Nashville Predators and San Jose Sharks open up their conference semifinal series tonight at 10:30PM ET. “That doesn’t necessary mean that I was right with what I told my team yesterday, or maybe he’s right with what he told you”. They generate a ton of offense from their back end from Shea Weber and Roman Josi in particular, and in games six and seven against the Ducks they collapsed well as a five-man unit around goalie Pekka Rinne, whose star has dimmed a bit after another so-so regular season for the 33-year-old.
As for those guys, Ryan Kesler, arguably the Ducks best player in the second half of the season and the playoffs, gave his perspective on possible change in the locker room.
ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Nashville Predators have teased us for years but haven’t had many actual playoff moments that your memory bank stores in a special place.
Rinne had an up and down 2015-16 season, at least by his standards, as his save percentage in 66 games dipped from.923 last season to.908, and his goals against went from 2.18 to 2.48. Predators leading scorer Filip Forsberg is mired in a five-game point drought.2.
Two first-period goals, from Colin Wilson and Paul Gaustad, stood up for Nashville, and Pekka Rinne withstood two dominant Ducks periods to hang on for the 2-1 win.
That was to be the extent of the Preds offensively on this night. The Predators only managed four shots on goal in the third.
The Ducks have been notoriously slow starters in deciding games.
On Wednesday night, Nashville joined Detroit, Chicago and the Kings that finished off the Ducks in front of their own fans. Will there be fireworks in Game 1?
It’s hard to conceive that this Game 7 loss by the Anaheim Ducks may have hurt worse than the three others that came before it. But not with any goals.
“They had some chances and a lot of shots, but I still thought that we defended really hard”, Rinne said.
Advertisement
And it was 2-0 with 20 minutes to go. They also led the series, 3-2, after a win here Saturday. “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”. They hit another post. This wasn’t a timid Game 7 performance like perhaps we’ve seen in the past from Anaheim.
