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. The Ducks were left with the same unusual story to tell for another long summer.
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ANAHEIM – The pregame warmup was nearly complete and only a handful of Ducks and Nashville Predators remained on the ice before Game 7 of their first-round playoff series Wednesday at Honda Center.
Pekka 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 gritty road victory.
This was the Predators first Game 7 in their history and their first playoff series win since 2012.
“The one thing he does really well is he plays the puck, he’s really active, he catches a lot of pucks”, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said.
Ironically, the last goal scored in the Ducks/Predators series was by a Preds player with a nickname of Goose. In franchise history, the Sharks have won eight of the 14 series in which they have been the higher-seeded team.
“Every team that’s in this situation needs their best players to be their best players”, said Ducks’ coach Bruce Boudreau, who is now 1-7 in career Game 7s. Forgive me if you are a San Jose fan, and feel free to keep that smirk right where it is.
After Wednesday night’s Game 7 between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators, the words of Yankee great Yogi Berra come to mind, “it’s deja vu all over again”.
Wilson put Nashville ahead 6:19 into the game with his second goal of the playoffs.
The Sharks’ early season power play struggles continued, as they were 0-for-2 against the Predators before an announced crowd of 15,219, the smallest of the season. They are also a little bit deeper than Nashville, which should come in handy during the inevitable overtime game or two. But a redirected shot clanked off Rinne’s post in the third, and nothing went in during a frantic final minute, leaving the Ducks with a mountain of frustration and the Predators with a cathartic escape.
“With the way the score was and the way we were pushing, I’d say yes, especially with how hard we had to push from November just to get to where we were”, Boudreau said. This was probably one of the best games of the series. They’ve been outscored by a combined 16-8 in seventh games since 2013, including 9-1 in the first periods of those games after Nashville took its 2-0 lead. Even though he plays on the West Coast, his league-wide profile grew throughout the season thanks to his efforts at the All-Star game in late January, a scraggly beard and a rare skill set among blue liners.
Round 1 re-cap: An unexpectedly quick start against the Ducks was met by an inevitable fight back. We won’t know until we get to the game, and we’ll go from there. He got a ton of chances, took a ton of shots, however, was foiled repeatedly by Preds Rock of Gibraltar Pekka Rinne. “We have to be hard on them, don’t give them time and space”. So Johansen fed an open Jarnkrok in the slot, and his wrist shot went off Jones glove and into the net for a two-goalPredatorslead 6:26 into the second period.
Top Scorers: Joe Thornton – one goal, three assists. Forward Logan Couture netted a goal in the second frame to put the Sharks up by 2 and they never looked back.
Wilson scored after he swept the puck away from Simon Depres, who could not control it.
The Sharks fired 30 shots at Rinne and created a host of scoring chances in the first two periods.
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This series’ win was huge and showed that the Sharks have the resolve and resilience that they have lacked in years past. The Predators scratched F Cody Bass for the first time in the series, using Colton Sissons and Craig Smith instead.
